Mahar Regional School field hockey coach Laurie Saisa was waiting for an effort like this.
The Senators received three-point performances from Kadie Jillson and Joslyn O’Brien and rolled to a 6-1 verdict over arch rival Athol High School in independent field hockey action Thursday night at the Woodward Complex in Orange.
Jillson converted a pass from O’Brien 5 minutes, 18 seconds into the opening half.
The Red Raiders pulled even at the 19-minute mark on an unassisted marker from Nina Alvarez, but from there it was all Mahar.
Sydney Goguen put the Senators ahead to stay with 7:40 left, assisted by O’Brien, then Jillson scored again with 2:33 remaining to make it 3-1 heading into intermission.
Rachel Latwis struck at 1:17 of the second half with a helper from Jillson, then O’Brien scored unassisted at 8:40 to make it 5-1. Jessica Walker added the final tally with 7:27 to go.
“Our give-and-goes finally worked, our spacing was better and we communicated better,” said Saisa. “All the pieces fell into place, (and) it was good to see.”
Mahar held a commanding 27-2 advantage in shots. Hannah Birch made 1 save for the Senators. Hudson Carlson stopped 19 shots and Alvarez had 2 saves for Athol.
Both teams had 8 corners.
Mahar (1-3-0) travels to Mohawk Trail Regional High School Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
Athol (0-4-0) hosts Holyoke High School Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Frontier 18½, FC Tech 5½— Rowan Blair carded a 41 and swept 4 points to lead Frontier Regional School over Franklin County Technical School, 18½-5½, in Bi-County North golf action Thursday at Cherry Hill Golf Course in Amherst.
Bryan Baumann and Scott Pelis also took 4 points for the Red Hawks, while Mike Corduff shared medalist honors with Blair and took 3 points.
Travis Cutting shot a 46 and took 3 points to pace the Eagles (0-2, 0-1 North).
Frontier (3-0, 2-0) hosts McCann Tech on Tuesday.
Pioneer 23, Mohawk 1 — Jake Willis fired a 2-under 34 and swept 4 points to lead Pioneer Valley Regional School to a 23-1 win over Mohawk Trail Regional High School in Bi-County North golf play Thursday at Northfield Golf Club.
Sam Kitfield-Vernon (38), Kyle Maynard, Garrett Cote and Jacob Fuller also took 4 points for the Panthers (5-0, 3-0 North), while Cam Baird added 3.
Danny White took the Warriors’ only point.
McCann 14, Greenfield 10 —
Cole Kratz and Dalton Tatro swept 4 points to help McCann Technical School rally for a 14-10 win over Greenfield High School in an Bi-County North golf match Thursday at Forest Park Country Club in Adams.
Co-medalist Ryan Baron (43) and Bradley Tatro (45) each added 2 points for the Hornets (3-0, 2-0 North).
George Balis and Christian LaPlante each took 3 points for the Green Wave (1-2), and match co-medalist Ttyler Boissonneault (43) and Ross Akey chipped in 2 points apiece.
Hopkins 14, Mahar 10 — Caleb Farnham and Jack Ter Doest both swept 4 points and powered Hopkins Academy to a 14-10 Bi-County East golf win over Mahar on Thursday at Ellinwood Country Club in Athol.
Farnham was match medalist with a 41, while Ter Doest carded a 45.
Kishan Patel’s 4 points in the fourth spot clinched the match for the Golden Hawks (4-1, 3-0 East).
Corey Sanderson led the Senators (1-2) with a 43 and 3½ points. Graham Green also took 3½ points and Tucker Ninteau chipped in with the other 3 points.
Sabis 3, Mahar 1 — Sabis International Charter School earned its third win out of its first four matches with a 23-25, 25-14, 25-16, 25-23 win over Mahar in an independent girls’ volleyball match Thursday in Springfield.
Lauren Henne recorder 19 digs and 2 aces to lead the Senators. Maeve Powell collected 8 kills and 2 aces, Sophie Smith added 4 kills and 2 aces, and Quincey Drew had 3 kills, 3 digs and a pair of aces.
Drew served 8 points in a row in the fourth to close a deficit before Sabis pulled out the set and the match.
Mahar fell to 0-5 overall.
West Springfield 3, Frontier 1 — Frontier dropped its first match of the season as West Springfield High School earned a 25-19, 25-20, 20-25, 25-15 independent girls’ volleyball victory action Thursday evening in West Springfield.
Lauren Davenport led the Red Hawks’ offense with 17 kills, Ella Deane dished out 22 assists and Selayna Bathurst contributed 3 kills and 18 digs.
Frontier (3-1) goes right back on the road tonight at 6 when it faces Division II power Notre Dame Academy of Hingham.