For the second time in nine days, Pittsfield and Taconic will meet on the soccer pitch. But you can bet that neither girls' squad is particularly happy about it.
Defending Western Massachusetts Division II champion Wahconah Regional is the No. 3 seed in its tournament and is the top-seeded among eight Berkshire County teams participating in the tournament.
In Division I, Taconic was given the fourth seed and Pittsfield got the fifth. That means the two teams will play each other in a quarterfinal game.
Wahconah is joined in the Division II field by Monument Mountain and Hoosac Valley.
In Division III, No. 2 McCann Tech earned the top county seed. The Hornets are one of three teams in the Division III field from the county, with Lenox seventh and Lee eighth.
"You have to go in every game and play every game hard," Lee coach Art Reilly said, while discussing his team's seed. "We don't take any game for granted."
Which is something that could be the game plan for any of the eight local teams playing.
Division I
While Wahconah is the defending champion in its division, the early spotlight will shine on Valentine Road, where Pittsfield and Taconic will play for the third time this season, and for the third time in the last four years in the Western Mass. tournament.
"They would have rather seen them later" in the tournament, Taconic coach Bill Lyon said of facing Pittsfield in the teams' opener.
When the teams meet on Monday at
"This is like the fourth time we've played each other," Pittsfield coach Andy Waluszko said, including the preseason jamboree.
Pittsfield's three losses came to Taconic and East Longmeadow, both Division I tournament teams, as well as Eastern Mass. Division I tourney team Franklin. Waluszko said he and his players were disappointed that the Generals didn't get a higher seed.
"I can tell you that the team feels that way," said Waluszko. "They feel like we got disrespected."
The teams played to a scoreless tie in September and Taconic got two goals from Bailey Robinson in a 2-1 win last Saturday.
Division II
The state runners-up start the postseason with a new goalkeeper. Becky Battaini will replace senior Brittany Breault, who had her appendix removed earlier in the week.
That's one of many changes that have hit the Warriors since last year, not the least of which was the passing of coach Robert "Boog" Powell.
Wahconah interim coach Jessie Kovacs said she was happy with where the Walker Statistical Instrument seeded her team.
"There's pressure when you're 1 or 2. I'm happy with 3," she said. "I was expecting a 3 or 4 seed. I think it represented our record."
Wahconah (12-3-2) will play sixth-seeded Palmer (9-5-4) in a quarterfinal Monday night at 6. Last year, Wahconah beat Palmer 2-0 in the semifinals.
Monument Mountain (9-5-2) will hit the road for its quarterfinal game against second-seeded Monson (13-2-3) on Monday at 2 p.m. Monson is in its first year as a Division II team, but brings quite a resume with it. The Mustangs won the Western Mass. Division III tournament last year and lost in the state final. The winner gets the Wahconah-Palmer winner in the semifinal.
Hoosac Valley (8-9-1), the ninth and last seed will travel to No. 8 Belchertown (9-7-2) on Sunday at 2. The winner will play top seed Hampshire (12-1-3) on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Division III
There's no Monson this year, so the field is a little more wide open. Smith Academy (15-1-2) is the top seed, but lost to fifth seed Gateway (11-3-2) 7-0 during the regular season.
The Hornets, who were seventh in the nine-team field last year, vaulted up to No. 2. The Hornets will meet the winner of a first-round game between No. 7 Lenox (10-6-2) and No. 10 Pioneer Valley (8-7-3). Lenox will host the game Sunday at 2 p.m.
No. 8 Lee plays this afternoon at 2 against No. 9 Pathfinder. The winner of that game will face top-seeded Smith on Monday at 2.
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