Athol High School kept its postseason hopes alive and well Tuesday evening by shutting out Pioneer Valley Regional School, 3-0, in independent girls’ soccer action in Northfield.
The Red Raiders (5-7-1) scored twice in the first half to post their third win the last four matches.
Amber Mahony put Athol on the board in the 21st minute, assisted by Shelby Mailloux. Seven minutes later, Ally Raymond converted a feed from Mercedez Young to make it 2-0.
Julia Carey’s unassisted tally in the 64th minute closed out the scoring.
Payton Parker made 2 saves to record the shutout for Athol, which outshot the Panthers, 16-5. Leah Fuess rejected 8 shots in the Pioneer goal.
“We started off strong and ended strong,” said Panther head coach Nikki Pullen. “Our intensity was inconsistent and we had poor touches. We had some nice runs and crosses, but just too many turnovers. … Julia Carey really dominated in the midfield.”
Granby 3, Mahar 1 — Mahar Regional School wanted to make a statement on the western Massachusetts girls’ soccer landscape Tuesday afternoon in Granby. And although the Senators may have opened an eye or two, there is still something left to be desired after Mahar outshot Granby High School but came up short in a 3-1 independent loss.
The Senators were taking on one of the premier girls’ soccer teams in western Mass. in the Rams (9-2-2), whose only two losses have come against Division I opponents Minnechaug Regional High School and Agawam High School. That authenticates the Rams as one of the top teams in Division III, the same division that Mahar competes in during the postseason.
In what has become a discouraging theme of late for Mahar coach Chad Sofitc, his team struggled early, allowing a pair of goals in the first 15 minutes of play, to fall into a 2-0 hole. The Senators did get on track later in the first half and wound up scoring midway through the second half, but were unable to overcome the deficit. Granby sealed the win with a goal in the final two minutes.
“We challenged our girls at halftime,” Softic said of his team’s 2-0 deficit. “We said to them, ‘Do you want to be a Granby, or do you want to be a middle-of-the-road team in the Franklin County League?’ They responded and we took it to Granby in the second half. I’m proud of their effort. We just are not getting off the bus ready to play right now.”
Summer Molin scored twice in the first half for Granby, burying a pass from Julia Frappier six minutes into the contest, and then finishing off a feed from Frappier again in the 14th minute.
Mahar came out in the second half and got on the board with 19 minutes left when Kenzie Tenney took a shot that was deflected home by Jeanne Grutchfield. Mahar came up short in its attempt to tie the game, and Granby’s Frappier scored on an assist from Molin with under two minutes to play.
“We had multiple opportunities to tie it,” Softic said. “There were a couple of shots that just missed the post by inches.”
Mahar finished the game with a 20-17 edge in shots. Brooklyn Baran finished with 10 saves to earn the victory in net. Marie Nottleson started in the Mahar goal and stopped two shots before having to leave with an injury. Tori Tenney came on and made five saves in relief.
Gateway 0, Frontier 0 — Eliza Desmarais and Alexa Boyden combined to stop seven shots Tuesday to help Frontier Regional School secure a scoreless draw with Gateway Regional High School in independent girls’ soccer game at Herlihy Park in Whately.
Frontier outshot Gateway, 14-12, but the Gators had more shots on net with a 7-6 edge. Desmarais made four saves for Frontier before being replaced (the Red Hawks split time between the two keepers) by Boyden, who made three saves to complete the shutout.
Becca Herman stopped all six shots she faced for Gateway.
Easthampton 3, Mohawk 0 — Mohawk Trail Regional High School executed its defensive game plan and was able to keep Easthampton High School sniper Maddie Grabowski without a point.
However, Kasi Marowitz and Angela Nardi both notched a goal and an assist as the Eagles blanked the Warriors, 3-0, in an independent girls’ soccer match Tuesday in Easthampton.
Aubrey Fugiel scored unassisted in the 12th minute, then Marowitz converted a pass from Nardi to put the Eagles up 2-0.
Nardi scored the only second-half goal, assisted by Marowicz.
“We had a good game plan against Maddie,” said Mohawk head coach Steve Tomi. “But, as good teams usually do, they had other players step up.”
Easthampton outshot the Warriors, 34-5.
Lili Pioli made 2 saves to record the shutout. Lilly Seaver was outstanding in the Mohawk net, turning aside 21 shots.
“She bailed us out,” said Tomi. “There could have been many more (goals), but she did a fantastic job.”
Mohawk hosts Smith Academy today at 4 p.m.
South Hadley 13, Greenfield 0 — Briana Couture, Morgan Harrington and Lindsay Marjanski each scored twice Tuesday and South Hadley High School defeated Greenfield High School, 13-0, in an independent girls’ soccer game in Greenfield.
Dina Samake and Chelsea Mass split time in the Green Wave net and each made a dozen saves.
Putnam 0, FC Tech 0 — Franklin County Technical School turned in a stellar defensive effort and earned a scoreless draw against Putnam Vocational Technical Academy in a Tri-County League boys’ soccer match Tuesday in Turners Falls.
“We played more like we can play than we showed down there (a 5-0 loss),” offered Eagles head coach Kurt Richardson. “We had some quality chances (to score).”
Franklin Tech goalkeeper Grayson Funk and the Beavers’ Luis Soto both played well to record their respective clean sheets. Funk made 5 saves, while Soto had 6 stops.
The Eagles outshot Putnam 8-7.
Franklin Tech (3-7-4, 1-2-2) travels to High School of Commerce Friday at 4 p.m.
Smith Academy 2, Greenfield 0 — Smith Academy scored in the opening minutes of the game and in the final minute of the first half to edge Greenfield, 2-0, in an independent boys’ soccer game Tuesday in Hatfield.
Liam Pitrat scored four minutes into the game from Mike Jamrog, and Zane Wendolowski scored from Matt Bouley with one minute to play in the first half.
Greenfield outshot the Falcons, 12-11, but Jack Hession stopped all 12 shots he faced to earn the shutout. Hunter Campbell made nine saves in the loss.
Sci-Tech 7, Mohawk 0 — Neven Montague scored twice and Israel Gohoho added a goal and two assists to power Springfield School of Science & Technology to a 7-0 independent boys’ soccer win over Mohawk Tuesday in Springfield.
Nehemias Ramirez, Karrington Allwood, Ronaldo Chilel and Saad Sabih also rippled the twine for the CyberCats, who outshot the Warriors 22-9.
Welmer Lopez made 4 saves to notch the shutout.
Wyatt Bandy-Page and Souahn Crowder each had 5 saves in net for Mohawk.
Pioneer 3, St. Joseph’s 1 — Dana McRae and Jacob Quinn scored in the second half to propel Pioneer to a 3-1 win over St. Joseph’s Central High School in an independent boys’ soccer game Tuesday at Clapp Park in Pittsfield.
Both teams scored once in the first half. Pioneer got on the board first as Eli Koester scored on an assist from McRae 29 minutes in. St. Joseph’s struck for the equalizer two minutes before the break when Hugo Chioderoli scored on a penalty kick.
McRae scored on a direct kick eight minutes into the second half to put the Panthers ahead for good, and Quinn sealed the win with 10 minutes to play on a play that was set up by Jack Loud.
Pioneer, playing with just 12 healthy players due to injuries, held a 32-3 edge in shots. Alex Taylor got his first varsity start and played solidly at center back for the Panthers in front of goalie Ryan Underwood, who made two saves.
Jack Perenick stopped 19 shots in the loss.