Two boys soccer teams get top-three seeds

By Howard Herman, The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Mass.

Nov. 7--Defending state Division II boys' soccer champion Mount Greylock earned its second consecutive No. 1 seed in the Western Massachusetts tournament, and leads nine Berkshire County boys teams into play.

"I feel like it's such a different year," Greylock coach Blair Dils said Friday night. "The whole year is different because we won the state title last year. I don't feel like we're defending anything."

The Mounties are one of five Berkshire County teams in the boys' Division II field. Monument Mountain got the No. 7 seed with Hoosac Valley eighth and Wahconah Regional ninth. Drury, getting into the tournament on the final day of the regular season by finishing second in the South, is the No. 11 and final team in the Division II field.

Taconic earned its second consecutive Division I tournament berth. The Braves were 10th last year but worked their way up through the rankings to be the No. 5 seed this year, and the Braves won't have to play a first-round game.

In Division III, Massachusetts State Vocational champion McCann Tech is the top Berkshire County team in the field. The Hornets, in their first year of play, got the No. 3 seed.

Also playing in the Division III tournament is sixth-seeded Mount Everett and 10th seeded Lenox.

Division II

"I was looking at the field and trying to guess," Dils said. "It was easier this year than it seemed."

The Mounties, who were

undefeated against Massachusetts teams, defeated Southwick, Athol and South Hadley en route to the Western Mass. title. None of those teams qualified this year.

Greylock will open its tournament with a first-round bye and will face the winner of Sunday's 2 p.m. game between Wahconah and Hoosac Valley.

"We'll have a tough game" either way, Dils said. "You don't like to play a team three times."

Monument will host a first-round game on Sunday at 2 against 10th-seeded Putnam. The winner of that game will play at No. 2 Palmer on Tuesday.

Drury's first-round opponent is sixth-seeded Easthampton. The Blue Devils will travel to Williston Northampton School in Easthampton and play Sunday at 6 p.m. The winner gets third-seeded Monson on Tuesday at 2. The 4-5 game features Belchertown at Hampshire in a Monday quarterfinal.

The Drury-Easthampton game is a rematch of a contest won by the Eagles 3-0.

"We didn't challenge for any soccer balls in the final 40 minutes," Drury coach Scott Botto said at the time.

Dils said that last year's tournament victory is a great memory, but it isn't something that he and the Mounties are dwelling on.

"It's hard to do," he said. "There are a lot of good teams out there. We feel like we can play with anybody. There are different teams with different personalities."

And last year's Division III champion Monson is now the third-seeded team in Division II, making the road to a trophy a bit more difficult.

Division I

The 10th seeds in 2008 lost a 5-0 first-round game to Longmeadow, another team that did not qualify for the tournament.

This year, the Braves (10-4-4) got a high seed but no first-round home game. They advance to the quarterfinals where they'll play fourth-seeded Northampton (9-6-3). If Taconic advances out of that game, the Braves could face defending champion and top-seeded Ludlow in a semifinal.

The Lions (14-0-3) are the only boys' soccer team undefeated in Western Massachusetts. Ludlow will play the winner of Sunday's game between No. 8 Chicopee Comp and No. 9 Sci-Tech in a Wednesday quarterfinal.

Division III

The good news is that defending champion Monson is not playing in the Division III field. The bad news for three Berkshire County teams, there are 12 teams to get through before hoisting a trophy.

Lenox, 2-0 losers to Monson as the top seed last year, got the 10th seed this year and the Millionaires (6-8-4) open on the road against No. 7 Ware (11-5-2) Sunday night at 6. A win by the Millionaires would match them up against No. 2 Granby (11-4-3) on Tuesday afternoon.

The story of the Division III tournament, however, is the third seed given to McCann. Not too shabby for a team that didn't even exist 12 months ago.

"I expected to be in the upper half" of the tournament draw, coach Adam Kozik said. "I didn't expect to be third."

The Hornets (11-5-2) will open at home on Wednesday afternoon against the winner of a first-round game in Sheffield between Mount Everett (8-7-3) and 11th-seeded Pioneer Valley (7-6-5). If Everett advances, it would set up a rematch. The Eagles beat the Hornets 4-0 during the regular season as Keith Torrico scored twice.

"I didn't expect to win the State Vocational Tournament," said Kozik. "I'm confident we can go further in Western Mass."

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