Lady Spartans tie Generals to keep tourney hopes alive

GREAT BARRINGTON – The Lady Spartans, who have endured a roller coaster soccer season this fall with a win over Lenox and a tough loss to Hoosac, kept their playoff hopes alive on Tuesday evening with a 1-1 tie against undefeated Pittsfield (11-0-3).

“The girls are psyched,” said Monument Mountain Head Coach Jess Platt after the game. “In order to make tournament we need to win two and tie one [in the Spartans’ three remaining games].”

The first game on that list was the Generals, who hold the county’s best overall record and utilize a high-octane pass-possession offense made possible by their impressive interior mid-field passing game.

“I thought we played pretty good defense,” said Platt after holding the Generals to a lone goal despite miserable field conditions due to the weather. “It just happens they are a good team.”

After a scoreless first half, where both teams failed to capitalize on only a couple of scoring chances, Monument caught a break within the first two minutes of the second half.

Leading Spartan scorer, Courtney Freadman (seven goals, four assists) fired a rocket from 20 yards away outside the left box; the ball hit the wet grass and squirted past the Pittsfield goalie for the surprising goal.

“She just ripped it, and on a wet day like today, any ball on the ground, like a hard strike, is going to be hard to save,” Platt said.

The Monument bench erupted after the tally, as they were just over 30 minutes away from earning two points from the top team in Berkshire County.

However, the Generals had other plans, as they peppered shots from both corners and inside the box, on Spartan goalie Iolani DeRis (11 saves).

“She came up really big on some corner kicks, and we’ve been working all week with [DeRis] on coming off her lines and being aggressive,” Platt said.

DeRis was forced to come out of the net on several occasions to scoop up loose balls and deflect kicks inside the box, even diving on one occasion to stop a potential winning shot in the final 10 minutes.

“[DeRis] was great,” Platt said.

The Generals were able to tie the score at the 55th minute, when Pittsfield’s leading scorer, Sydney Deluce, found the back of the net.

On the play, the Spartan defender lost her footing and turned the wrong way as Deluce moved to the inside of the box for an easy point-blank shot in front of the net, the only Spartan mistake on the day.

“[Deluce] got around her and our defender lost her footing,” Platt said. “I think [our defender] wasn’t goal-side, and it tripped her up.”

Deluce got free behind the Spartan defense with a feed from Kara Alfonci, who sent a wet ball, which skidded past the Spartan’s defender, deep into the Monument zone.

Despite the lone mistake, the Spartans have been one of the few teams who are weather-tested. Monument embraces the wet field conditions and has prepared with due diligence throughout the season.

“We train out in the rain when all the other teams go inside and cancel their practices,” Platt said. “We haven’t cancelled a practice yet this season – we like playing in the rain so we hope [this weather and success] will continue for us.”

The final two Spartan matches feature two winnable games on paper, the first against Taconic (2-8), followed by a non-league game versus Cathedral.

Cathedral has struggled with a losing record, yet they have tied both Belchertown and Mt. Greylock, playing primarily a Division 1 schedule.

“We are feeling good about it,” Platt said of her tournament chances. “Hopefully we can keep it going.”

Posted by Tim Davis on October 25, 2012. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry