McCann Tech Falls to Granby
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Kalli White scored seven goals Wednesday to lead the Granby girls lacrosse team to a 19-3 win over McCann Tech.
The Rams stormed out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter and sent the game to running time early in the second.
But there are some encouraging signs for the Hornets in a week when they dropped to 0-6.
On Monday, in a road game at Springfield Central, McCann Tech scored six goals after managing no more than two in any game in the first two weeks of the season.
Two days later, Jordyn Lloyd scored three goals before half-time against Granby, and the Hornets had two Gabby Wells-Vidal goals waved off on infractions in the second half.
And after being shut out four times in an 0-15 season last year, McCann Tech does have at least one goal in every game so far this spring.
“Even from the first game of the season, that first quarter was pretty brutal, and they made big adjustments,” Hornets coach Christian Chenail said of his squad’s improvement. “Each week, we try to focus on something a little bit differently.
“This week, it was definitely transitional defense, which, on Monday, we did well against Central – doubling in the midfield, forcing sideline, playing through the whole field.”
On Wednesday, though, the Hornets had no answer for White, who scored twice in transition in the first four minutes and had four goals in the first quarter.
Kelly-Lynn Kennedy added three of her five goals in the first period to help the Rams take control.
McCann Tech had some of its greatest success late in that quarter and early in the second and again late in the half.
After Granby scored with 3 minutes, 21 seconds left to go up, 8-0, the Hornets kept the visitors off the board for the next 7:24. During that time, Lloyd scored off a run from midfield to get the Hornets on the scoreboard.
Then, after the Rams made it 14-1 with about three minutes left in the half, Lloyd scored twice more to end the half – first intercepting a pass at midfield and racing all the way in to goal and then converting a free position opportunity with 35 seconds left in the half to make it 14-3.
“We didn’t have a lot of offensive takes at the beginning of the season,” Chenail said. “So now that we’re getting a lot more possession – like against Springfield, we actually controlled quite a bit of time in the first half – now that we’re getting up there, getting comfortable and running through plays, trusting our teammates to make the pass to them … we’re doing much better than where we were at.”
Although Granby’s 19 goal was a season high against the McCann Tech defense, things would have been worse without the 11 saves the Hornets got from keeper Emily Raschdorf, one of just two seniors on the young roster.
“Emma’s been a big, huge help,” Chenaile said. “She just came out for the first time this year. She was doing softball but had some shoulder stuff going on. She wanted to try something new, so it’s been great to have her come from catcher in softball to play goal in lacrosse.”
McCann Tech Friday hosts Pittsfield High.