Wahconah Rolls Past Hoosac Valley to Reach Final
CHESHIRE, Mass. – After a three-year absence from the post-season, the Wahconah girls lacrosse team is going to its first Western Massachusetts Class C Championship Game.
Danielle Hagmaier scored seven goals, and Phalyn Renderer made eight saves Wednesday as third-seeded Wahconah upended Hoosac Valley.
Wahconah (12-7) advances to Tuesday’s final against South Hadley, a 13-7 winner over Hampshire Regional in the half of the four-team regional bracket.
Wahconah took control of the game with a 5-0 run that spanned the first and second quarters and started when Hagmaier set up Anna Doyle (five goals).
Doyle’s goal in the 10th minute of play broke a 2-2 tie in what started out as a back-and-forth battle.
“The girls haven’t been at this level,” Wahconah coach Kathy Budaj said. “So coming into a tournament game, they were just kind of nervous and shaking off the nerves.
“And that’s what I just said to them: You’re going to be nervous in the beginning. You’re going to make mistakes because you’re nervous. No worries. Those mistakes you’re going to fix because you’re going to start calming down and getting into your rhythm.
“And that’s exactly what we did.”
Hagmaier closed the first quarter with a free position goal to make it 6-2, and Doyle opened the third with a goal to give Wahconah a five-goal margin.
Emma Meczywor scored twice in the second quarter for Hoosac Valley to keep the margin at five until Hagmaier scored in the 23rd minute to send Wahconah into half-time ahead, 10-4.
The second half was all Wahconah.
Chloe DiFazio scored a transition goal with an assist from Kennedy Dews with 10 seconds left in the third quarter to push the lead to 10 goals, setting the stage for a fourth quarter played in running time.
Although her team scored in double digits for the sixth straight game, Budaj was quick to praise Renderer, who finished with a .667 save percentage.
“Phalyn played well,” Budaj said. “She played really well against Belchertown [on Monday] as well. She only gave up one goal, and she made some really nice saves. She played well against South Hadley [an 11-10 Wahconah win on Saturday].
“So she’s in that little bit of a groove, which is good timing.”
Hoosac Valley (13-3) now has time to regroup for next week’s state tournament after seeing a five-game winning streak snapped.
“We did not play well today, especially given our past two weeks of quick, stellar play,” Hoosac Valley coach Molly West said. “We made mistakes we haven't made all season and struggled on the ground so it's disappointing to have this game be the game we made costly errors.
“We finished the regular season 13-3 and that's something to be proud of. This is an amazing group of girls and I look forward to bouncing back and finishing the season on a positive note.”
Budaj said it was great to have a chance for two Berkshire County teams to go head-to-head in a Western Mass game, something that can only help grow the sport in the area.
As for her own program, Wahconah (12-7) is getting stronger in May for the second year in a row. Last year, it won four straight to finish a 4-15 campaign. Tuesday’s win was its fifth straight after starting .500.
“These girls have come a long way this year,” Budaj said. “When I look back and we were 0-14 [last spring], and we finished 4-14, I remember talking to my assistant coach and saying, ‘Boy, I like how we ended last season, you know, to start off next season.’ So we’ve learned, we’ve got some good kids – great kids, actually, great kids.”