Hornets Overcome Schedule, Mount Greylock
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The McCann Tech boys lacrosse team Friday used a 4-1 run in the third quarter to take control and came away with an 8-6 win over Mount Greylock.
Brayden Villnave and Parker Hart each had a hat trick, and Brody Rhinemiller stopped eight shots for the Hornets in the first meeting between the programs since the 2018 Central/Western Massachusetts sectionals.
McCann Tech renounced after a rough first half in which it gave up five man advantages but managed to go into intermission tied, 2-2.
Hornets coach Marshall Maxwell said there is a good reason why his team was not as sharp as it has been in some other games this spring.
“We were on the road last night at [Springfield] Central,” Maxwell said. “We got home at 11:15 last night. Fortunately, they’re on a school break, but we have a lot of kids that also work, that are on a co-op. So all my seniors were on co-op today.
“They were up early. Quick turnaround for a shift of work.”
And then a 5 p.m. faceoff on Mount Greylock’s John Allen Field.
“I told my guys, when you’re tired, you lose your focus and your discipline,” Maxwell said. “We lost our focus and our discipline today, and it showed in the penalties. We play like this against Granby, against Smith Voc next week, we’ll get run off the field.
“We’re not that good a team where we can hurt ourselves. We need to take advantage of every opportunity that we have come our way.”
And Mount Greylock, in the first year of the renaissance of its varsity program, was good enough to keep the pressure on the Hornets all game.
“Hats off to Greylock,” Maxwell said. “That’s a very young, promising program. And it’s great to see Greylock have a program back.”
The Mounties opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Ed Stroll converted an assist from Jack Elder to take a 1-0 lead, which is where things stood after one quarter.
The Hornets got a pair of goals from Villnave in the second to take a 2-1 lead, but Mount Greylock’s Henry Easton scored the first of his three goals – on the man advantage – with 2 minutes, 41 seconds on the clock to make it 2-2 at half-time.
Hart broke the tie early in the third, putting back a rebound to give the Hornets a 3-2 lead.
Musa Thompson (goal, two assists) and Villnave scored goals two minutes apart to stretch that lead to 5-2.
After Hunter Wright converted a pass from Easton to give the Mounties their first goal of the second half with 2:33 left in the third, Hart found the back of the net again for the Hornets to make it 6-3.
Mount Greylock made things interesting in the fourth.
Easton scored from the edge of the crease, and Dow Young scored with 10:33 left in the game to make it 6-5.
McCann Tech was called for a two-minute slash on Young’s goal. But the Hornets’ man down unit denied the hosts a tying goal.
Cole Maxwell picked up a man-up goal for McCann Tech with 8:17 on the clock, but Mount Greylock’s Easton had the answer, pulling his team to within 7-6 with 6:21 left to play.
Mount Greylock got a final man-up opportunity moments later, and the Mounties methodically worked their offense, trying to find an opening.
McCann Tech was pinned in its defensive end for the better part of four minutes before it recovered a turnover with just less than two to play. The Hornets were able to advance into the box and tried to run some clock, but Mount Greylock took a penalty with 1:12 left, and Hart put the finishing touch on the win with a goal in the final minute to make it 8-6.
The day largely belonged to the goalies, with Mount Greylock’s Odin Wojtkowski stopping 11 of the 19 shots he faced and Rhinemiller stopping eight of 14.
“He’s been playing well,” Maxwell said of Rhinemiller. “Two games ago against Chicopee Comp, he was the reason why we won the game. He’s a three-year starter, he’s a senior, he’s a captain. That’s what he’s supposed to do.
“And he’s working still with a very young group back there. We start a freshman and two sophomores at long poles, and we have another sophomore short stick middie. And we have another long pole who didn’t start playing until this year and a short-stick middie in his second year. So [Rhinemiller’s] doing a lot with a lot of young guys.”
McCann Tech (4-2) hosts Granby on Monday.
Mount Greylock (2-3) is at Lenox on Wednesday.