Strong Second Half Propels Mounties Past Patriots
WILLIAMSTOWN. Mass. -- The Mount Greylock girls lacrosse team has had some bigger margins of victory this spring.
But given the circumstances, Mounties have not had many more impressive halves than the second half on Saturday against Mount Anthony.
Mount Greylock built on a narrow two-goal half-time lead to earn a 10-4 win over the Patriots and its second victory in less than 24 hours.
"I think we came to play," Mount Greylock coach Jeff Stripp said. "We saw [Mount Anthony] earlier in the season. It was a different type of game.
"But it's been a long week for us. We had a game last night. We got in at 10:30. I was a little concerned about the legs. We're down a few players, so that was a concern as well. But they responded in the second half, and I was super impressed the whole second half."
Mount Greylock won, 18-9, when the teams played in Bennington, Vt., in the third game of the year.
On Saturday, it ran its record to 10-2 by winning the 2 p.m. start, which began 16 hours after its Friday night win at Chicopee Comp.
Ainsley Abel had four goals and three assists, and Christy Rech stopped nine shots in Mount Greylock's fifth straight win.
The Mounties jumped on top early with two scores from Abel and a goal apiece from Lucy McWeeny and Tess Leveque, who made it 4-0 with just less than 11 minutes left in the first half.
But the Pats closed the half by scoring three of the next four goals to go into the break down, 5-3.
Mount Greylock righted the ship with two goals in the first three minutes of the second half.
Phoebe Hughes scored with an assist from Abel, and Abel scored off a groundball to re-establish the four-goal margin.
Mount Anthony got back within three, but Leveque found the net two more times and Abel finished the scoring with about six minutes left to play.
Rech made six of her nine stops in the first half to keep the Mounties in the lead.
"We had a goal at half-time: Less than three goals," Stripp said. "That's what they had on us in the first half. We let in one, so I'm really proud of the defense.
"Christy and the whole defense did a great job clearing. I thought our ground balls cleaned up int he second half. That certainly helped."
Mount Greylock now gets a few days off to rest and get ready for the first game of the annual rivalry home-and-home against Wahconah in Dalton on Thursday.