Hoosac Valley Hands Nascent McCann Tech Program a Loss
CHESHIRE, Mass. – Any first-year varsity program is going to take its lumps.
Looking across the field at Tuesday’s opponents from McCann Tech, no one knew that better than Hoosac Valley girls lacrosse coach Molly West.
“My first year, we won one game, and we thought we won the World Series,” West said after a 16-3 win over the Hornets. “And you just keep going.
“It’s about camaraderie. I mean, yeah, everyone wants to win, but at the same time, too, it’s about building a family and camaraderie.”
The Hurricanes have had a lot of success since that inaugural season, and they are off to a strong start this year with a 2-0 record after Lauren Davis scored four goals and Emma Meczywor, Jacinta Felix and Ashlyn Lesure each had a hat trick on Tuesday.
West said the family that was forged in those early years carries through to a program that went undefeated in the old Berkshire County League in 2019 and made a state tournament appearance last spring.
“That’s the thing that I love about this program so much,” she said. “We have such a great veteran crew that welcomes in and encourages kids to play, and they’re immediately part of the program. It’s not JV or varsity or new or veteran. It’s everybody. I think that’s been a big piece of our successes, that feeling like everyone participates regardless of how much time you get.”
McCann Tech’s seniors know that they are helping to lay the foundation for future success. In the here and now, they are just happy to get on the field and play varsity games.
“It feels good to get out here,” McCann Tech’s Mia Parise said after scoring a pair of goals. “We’ve been a JV program for a few years now. It’s good to finally get the varsity experience and get into it.”
Both Parise’ goals and all three of the Hornets’ tallies came in the second half, when McCann Tech outscored the Hurricanes, 3-2, as Hoosac Valley relied heavily on its reserves.
Hornets coach Christian Chenail said he saw his team take some steps forward after Monday’s season opener at Chicopee and Tuesday’s opening half, which saw the Hurricanes get the game to running time with 12 minutes left until half-time.
“We had some big transition defense helping out, the offense was coming back and getting some of that transition so we could get up the field,” Chenail said. “The first half, we struggled to get up to attack. In the second half, they were meeting them and actually able to transition. That was good.”
The Hornets (0-2) will try to take another step forward on April 12 when they play their home opener against Monson.
Hoosac Valley (2-0) figures to get its biggest challenge of the season to date on Friday when it hosts Amherst.
West said Tuesday that the Hurricanes went into their home opener wanting to get a win and to work on a couple of things they will need to face more established teams down the road.
“This is our first time on a grass field,” she said of Hoosac Valley, which opened the year last week on a turf field at Chicopee. “We really focused on ground balls. We still have a lot of work to do. It’s different going for a ground ball on turf than it is on grass, so I was a little worried today. I thought we were OK. We definitely have room to work on it.
“Then, the offensive sets. This was really our third day outside, so we haven’t really been able to get into much of an offensive set and running plays and screens and picks and rolls.”
In addition to being happy to get out of the gym, West was happy to see another varsity program emerge in the county this spring.
“The more we have and the more we can grow I think is fantastic,” she said. “I think girls lacrosse is a great alternative to track and softball. … It’s a great spot. It gets kids as a team. And for those kids who play soccer, it’s a nice transition from soccer and basketball. When you’re in the arc, when you’re in the offensive third, that’s what it is. It’s a basketball game. You’re screening, you’re picking, you’re making cuts, you’re looking for the off-ball cutter.”