Freshman-to-be lifts Hadley over South Hadley in summer soccer action

By ELLIOT WELD

For the Gazette

Published: 07-17-2017 10:17 PM

HALDEY — Lane Hall-Witt, a rising freshman, scored his first two goals of the season, as Hadley beat South Hadley 3-0 in Pioneer Vlaley Summer Soccer League action on Monday.

“I just got good balls from my teammates and I finished them,” Hall-Witt said.

Hall-Witt’s first goal came from a few feet inside the top of the penalty box in the second half. After a deflected shot, the ball came to Hall-Witt’s feet and shot into the top left corner of the goal to put Hadley up 2-0.

About a minute later, Hall-Witt scored again after gaining possession of the ball in front of the goal and shooting to the left side to put Hadley up 3-0.

Dougie Pierce opened the scoring shortly after halftime for Hadley. After escaping South Hadley center-back Gabe Kovacs, Pierce pushed the ball down the right wing into the penalty area and shot to the far side of the goal.

South Hadley pushed forward to try to score, which gave Hadley more room to attack.

“Their defense and their mid-field opened up, and we just played it right through,” Hall-Witt said.

Despite having more shots on goal, Hadley was held scoreless in the first half. South Hadley goal keeper Xavier Butzer finished with seven saves.

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“It just wasn’t our day (in the first half),” Hadley coach Alex Curran said. “Fantastic runs, great finishes, but I think we hit the post five times. I think we bounced back well in the second half. I told them just to keep trying, keep going for it and one was going to hit the back of the net. Persistence and motivation, I think that’s what got it through.”

Hadley had five shots on goal in the first half.

“A lot of times in the fist half, we’d kick it from the back of the field, in our own defensive half, trying to outrun them,” Hadley’s Uan O’Brien said. “But their defense was pretty fast. We started moving the ball more and moving it closer and slotting the final ball through. That’s when we started getting our goals.”

Shortly after Pierce scored, South Hadley’s Devon Huard took the ball down the left wing and took a shot, which was saved and deflected onto the crossbar by goal keeper Eric Berg. Huard finished with two shots on goal.

“With someone that fast you usually push him outside and then one of our center-backs will come and help,” Hadley defender Michael Curran said. “The biggest thing is when someone is that fast, to keep them outside.”

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