Masse, Mounties Come Back for OT Win at Wahconah

DALTON, Mass. -- Brook Masse converted a feed from Emma Stevens 51 seconds into overtime on Wednesday to give the Mount Greylock girls lacrosse team an 11-10, come-from-behind, overtime victory over Wahconah.

 

The win secured a Central/Western Massachusetts tournament bid for the Mounties, after they erased a 10-6 deficit with the last four goals of regulation.

 

On the game-winner, sophomore Stevens took a pass from Clare Sheedy at the top of the 12, drove into traffic, stepped back and found Masse between two defenders.

 

Masse then converted with a scoop shot to set off the celebration.

 

“Honestly, no, I wasn’t planning that,” Masse said. “It was kind of just very in the moment. This goalie [Sydney Smith] is really good, so I can’t make as many shots. I usually go high, but this time, I thought, ‘Meh, she probably know know that I’m going low.’ “

 

For Masse and her senior classmates, the low shot was a highlight of a career filled with battles against their rivals to the south.

 

“It’s definitely amazing that we came back from four goals down,” Masse said. “I’ve been playing against Wahconah on this field since I was in seventh grade. And we have been neck-and-neck. We win a game, and then we lose a game.

 

“Having this be my last game playing on this field and then winning in overtime is the best gift of all.”

 

Early on, it looked like the Mounties were going to run away with a rare easy win in Dalton. With Carolyn Jones recording a first-half hat trick, Mount Greylock was ahead, 6-2, with about eight minutes left in the first half.

 

But Wahconah scored five straight to end the half, including three of Jilly Cote’s four first-half goals, to take a 7-6 lead into half-time.

 

It then opened up that lead to start the second half with goals by Emily Figiela, Catie Ronayne and Cote to make it 10-6 with 10 minutes, 23 seconds left to play.

 

Mount Greylock coach Lindsey von Holtz called timeout, and coming out of the break, the Mounties won the draw and got a score from Stevens at the 9:31 mark to break the eight-goal Wahconah run.

 

“I think, they just realized that they really wanted it,” von Holtz said of the comeback. “And once they scored one, they realized they could do it.

 

“Getting the last few draw controls definitely helped. We switched to Delaney [Babcock] pulling, which allowed Emma Stevens to pick up most of those draws, and, you’ve heard me say it many times: This is a game of possession.”

 

Mount Greylock won the last six draws in regulation and the overtime draw that set up the game-winner.

 

Tessa Levesque scored in transition for the Mounties to make it 10-8 with 2:51 on the clock, and Clare Sheedy scored from high on the right wing with 1:06 left to get her team within a goal.

 

With 46 seconds left in regulation, Stevens scored to tie it.

 

Mount Greylock got the ball on the restart but turned it over with 38 seconds left. Wahconah could not get a good look at the goal, and the teams went to OT.

 

Jayden Johnson and Autumn Delorey split time in goal for the Mounties. Smith made five second-half saves, including some real testers, for Wahconah.

 

“We need to be stronger mentally and  stop giving the other teams the ball,” Wahconah coach Kathy Budaj said. “Sydney played great in goal and we did a great job for most of the game, but we need to focus on our ability to hold on to a lead toward the end of the game. We have lost three games this season by not keeping our heads at the end of games.”

 

Wahconah (9-7-1) has three games left, including one against Springfield Central, which it beat, 13-0, earlier in the season. Budaj’s team begins its quest for win No. 10 and a berth in the tournament on Thursday at home against Chicopee.

 

Mount Greylock (7-8) also has three games remaining but knows it is in the tournament thanks to the second-place finish in the Berkshire County League that it secured on Wednesday night.

 

“The seniors definitely talked to the team about [qualifying], saying they didn’t want their season to be done next week,” von Holtz said. “They had a huge group chat about it last night, that apparently lasted a long time. And I think the underclassmen were working for the seniors at the end.

 

“One of the timeouts, we talked about it, and they were working hard because they didn’t want it to be done next week.”

 

More photos from this game here.