Dilisio gives Tigers double-overtime win
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SOUTH HADLEY - The opening was so small that any hesitation would have been too late.
But South Hadley junior Zak Guenther had plenty of confidence in his long-time teammate and fired a long pass from the right side of the field through the closing Minnechaug Regional defense to Luke Dilisio on the far post.
In one motion, Dilisio caught the pass and flipped it low past Falcons goalkeeper Sam Wheaton to give the Tigers a 7-6 double overtime win in the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament semifinals at South Hadley on Tuesday.
"It was all about Zak," Dilisio said. "He had the hard part and made a terrific pass. I had the easy part, just putting it in."
The goal came with just two seconds left in an extra-man opportunity and 3 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the second four-minute overtime frame.
Dilisio and I "made a little eye contact and he dropped down (toward the goal). I saw the opening and made the no-look pass," said Guenther, who had two assists in the win. "I knew he would get it."
He credited the scoring play to the comfort of being long-time teammates.
"We've been playing together since fourth grade," Guenther said. "It doesn't take much to know what the other is thinking."
Third-year coach Matt Benoit said his players overall comfort with each other has led to the team's tremendous season thus far.
"It's great to have that kind of chemistry. Last year, we had some trouble scoring and (won the western Mass. title) with our defense," he said. "This year, our offense has been much better. A lot of that is because these guys have been together so much. We've got brothers and best friends (on offense). They play together in the off-season."
Benoit added, "They are all great kids. They take care of the stuff in the school, too. We don't have any problems. They are honor students, good kids, who represent the program well."
The top-seeded Tigers (19-1) advance to play No. 3 Longmeadow (14-6) in the title game for the second straight year. The rivals will meet on Friday at Garber Field at the University of Massachusetts at 6:30 p.m.
The "South Hadley-Longmeadow (rivalry) goes back for quite a while," said Benoit, whose team beat the Lancers twice in the regular season, including once in overtime, this year.
South Hadley also topped Longmeadow 7-6 in overtime in last year's championship.
"This is always a tight game. Longmeadow is always there. Their kids have all played in big games," he added.
The Tigers survived a rare low-scoring performance out of their usually dominant offense to win on Tuesday.
"There are some days when our offense isn't going to score a ton of goals," Benoit said. "And that's when our defense has to step up. That's why we have an All-American in goal, for games like this."
The All-American is senior Sean Mackey, who finished with 11 saves, including seven after halftime and a few at point-blank range during the overtimes.
"It's definitely nerve-racking," Mackey said of sudden-death play. "Our defense picked it up. We kept working hard and did whatever it took to keep the game going and give the offense a chance."
Dilisio's game-winner was his third of the contest, with all of them coming after halftime. He also had two assists.
Alex Ortensi added two goals, while brothers Chris Menard (two assists) and Ben Menard (one assist) each scored once.
The Tigers took a 3-1 lead with 7:15 left in the second quarter, but Minnechaug evened the score at 3-3 before halftime and the game featured ties at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 before heading into overtime.
"I think it's hard to have that much time off from real game action and then come out with as much intensity as you need to have in a game like this," said Mackey, whose team last played on May 27.
"But we picked it up and did what we needed to do to win. That's all that matters," he added.
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
