DALTON -- After winning their 11th game and avenging a lone loss to Mount Greylock, the Spartans may have gotten ahead of themselves a bit.
"It was just a debacle. We decided to try a couple different things and it just kind of back-fired mentally for us," said Monument Mountain girls soccer coach Miguel Silva of a road loss to Hoosac Valley last week. "It was a game that we kind of took lightly and we shouldn't have. Good lesson learned for us."
Following that monumental win over Greylock, the Spartans dropped a 3-1 decision to at-the-time 2-9-1 Hoosac last Thursday. They then had almost a full week to stew before taking the field Wednesday night under the lights at Wahconah.
Despite the battle-hardened Warriors playing Monument to a scoreless first-half draw, the Spartans got second-half goals from Mabel Cooney and Jade Nelson in a settling 2-0 win.
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Wahconah's Sammie Kaley tries to get away from pursuing Monument Mountain defender Madeline Hardy during Wednesday night's late game in Dalton.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Grace Soule pushes the ball upfield against Wahconah's Rylynn Lamb.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Wahconah's Chloe DiFazio shields Monument Mountain's Mallory Lucey.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Wahconah's Ella Scalise passes the ball up to teammate Danielle Hagmaier, with Monument's Iris Firth pressuring.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Mabel Cooney and Wahconah's Vienna Mahar challenge for the ball.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Wahconah goalie Edrie Collins makes a save on a shot by Monument's Iris Firth.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Jade Nelson scored a second half goal at Wahconah Wednesday night.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Jade Nelson celebrates with Sophia Curletti and other teammates after scoring at Wahconah Wednesday night.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Mabel Cooney scored the game-winner at Wahconah in the first minute of the second half.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE Photos: Monument Mountain and Wahconah play under lights in Dalton
The Spartans and Warriors met on a chilly Wednesday night.
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Wahconah's Sammie Kaley tries to get away from pursuing Monument Mountain defender Madeline Hardy during Wednesday night's late game in Dalton.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Grace Soule pushes the ball upfield against Wahconah's Rylynn Lamb.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Wahconah's Chloe DiFazio shields Monument Mountain's Mallory Lucey.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Wahconah's Ella Scalise passes the ball up to teammate Danielle Hagmaier, with Monument's Iris Firth pressuring.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Mabel Cooney and Wahconah's Vienna Mahar challenge for the ball.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Wahconah goalie Edrie Collins makes a save on a shot by Monument's Iris Firth.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Jade Nelson scored a second half goal at Wahconah Wednesday night.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Jade Nelson celebrates with Sophia Curletti and other teammates after scoring at Wahconah Wednesday night.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Monument Mountain's Mabel Cooney scored the game-winner at Wahconah in the first minute of the second half.
MIKE WALSH -- THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
"Today, just had that mentality, come in and play our game," continued Silva. "Get back to us, get back to winning. We all learned from Hoosac and hopefully that'll help us in the long run."
Wahconah (1-11-1) had a lot to play for as well. The Warriors have been held to just one goal this season against a grueling schedule, but are on the bubble of both the PVIAC and MIAA postseason tournaments.
The hosts played Monument even for about 38 minutes in the first half, before goalkeeper Edrie Collins had to get real busy to deny a few hard charges by the Spartans. That included a diving push on an Annette Boyko blast in which Collins redirected the shot off the post and away.
However, Monument Mountain (12-2-0) kept on mounting.
Just 32 seconds into the second half, Collins was forced to make another diving save on a shot from the right corner. This time, however, the rebound bounced dead-center of her box and Monument's Mabel Cooney was there to finish it off for the 1-0 lead.
"We've been really working on getting the ball out wide, dragging marks and opening up space," said Silva.
The Warriors had been keyed in on bottling up star senior Iris Firth throughout the first half, so Monument pulled her to the edge where her crosses proved consistently dangerous.
"Iris is going to get marked by at least two, triple-teamed sometimes, so we figured if we can get her out wide," noted Silva. "From the second half on, beautiful, one of the best games we've seen with that, got some great chances. We were just executing our game plan."
After six days of reeling, the ice-breaking goal seemed to galvanize the Spartans side and they continued applying pressure to Collins and a young Wahconah side. The Warriors deflated a bit after a high-stress finish to the first half.
Collins, one of just four seniors on Wahconah roster, did her best to hold off the rising tide, but in the 54th minute, Monument midfielder Sophia Curletti locked the ball in the zone.
Curletti sent a left-footed pass to another of the Spartans' 12-member senior class, Jade Nelson. The long and strong attacker got free in space and booted a shot from range that short-hopped Collins out on her left post. She got hands on the ball, but Nelson put enough on it that it broke through and into the net for a 2-0 lead.
Wahconah's chances to get on the board were relatively limited against both first-half goalie Hannah Boino and second-half keeper Jaziyah Forte, who combined for the clean sheet.
The Spartans are off until a Monday home date with South Hadley. The Tigers are currently No. 1 in the PVIAC Class B rankings, with Monument fifth and Wahconah eighth.
Wahconah is at Hoosac Valley on Friday at 4 p.m.
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Monument 0 2 -- 2Wahconah 0 0 -- 0SECOND HALFMM -- Cooney (unassisted), 40:32; MM -- Nelson (Curletti), 53:34.Saves -- MM: Boino 1, Forte 2; W: Collins 9.