Now that it has officially secured a postseason berth, Frontier Regional School can focus on the Schmid Division crown and trying to make another run to the Western Massachusetts Division III finals.
The defending WMass champion Red Hawks closed in on a second consecutive Schmid crown and clinched a tournament berth in the process with its 4-0 win over Athol High School Tuesday afternoon at Herlihy Park in Whately.
Frontier (7-3-3 overall, 5-0-1 Schmid) is guaranteed second place in the division, which carries the automatic playoff berth. The only team left with a mathematical chance to win the division title is Easthampton High School — Frontier’s next opponent on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The Red Hawks only need a tie in that contest to win the crown outright.
Ethan LaFleur scored the only goal of the first half in the 17th minute, when he scored of a feed from Zach Hamilton.
The Red Raiders were able to hold Frontier from adding to that lead until the 70th minute, when Ben Arnold booted home a feed from Dan Bronke. Two minutes later the Red Hawks made it 3-0 on Bronke’s goal, and Ian Newman struck for the final tally in the 78th minute. The last two goals were unassisted.
Peter Bronke made 3 saves in goal to record the shutout for Frontier, which outshot Athol 23-7. Colby Mason was credited with 10 stops for the Red Raiders.
“Our defense was very good,” said Red Hawks head coach Dale Totman. “we take a lot of pride in it, and it’s the strength of our team.”
Pioneer 3, Greenfield 1 — DaShawn Sadri scored two goals, including the game-winner, as Pioneer Valley Regional School came back to earn a 3-1 victory over Greenfield High School in a McGrath North boys’ soccer match Tuesday evening in Northfield.
The Green Wave took the early lead as Anjou Kang-Stryker took a pass from Sylvian Popusoi 1:58 into the opening half and fired a shot past Panthers goalkeeper Ryan Underwood for the 1-0 lead.
The score remained that way for the next 56 minutes until Sadri tied the game on a pass from Eli Koester. Sadri gave Pioneer its first lead seven minutes later on an assist from Mike Menard. Dana McRae iced the game for the Panthers in the 72nd minute on an unassisted score.
Underwood stopped 5 shots in net for Pioneer. Hunter Campbell blocked 7 for the Green Wave.
FC Tech 0, Westfield Tech 0 — Playing his first game in net for Franklin County Technical School, Joel Farrick stepped up and made 7 saves as the Eagles battled Westfield Technical Academy to a scoreless draw in an independent boys’ soccer match Tuesday afternoon in Westfield.
Due to injuries and illnesses, Franklin Tech (4-7-5) was forced to play out of position and with a short bench, and the Eagles responded by playing one of their best games of the year.
“I thought today might have been our best game,” said Franklin Tech coach Kurt Richardson “Between all of the guys who were out, the guys we did have available really stepped up and controlled the game. We really passed the ball well, controlled possession and I am really proud of the effort we put in.”
The game was evenly matched throughout as Franklin Tech registered 5 shots on goal and Westfield Tech had 8.
The Eagles return to action Friday when they travel to face Smith Vocational & Agricultural High School.
Mahar 4, Amherst 1 — Kenzie Tenney scored two goals to lead Mahar Regional School to a 4-1 win over Division I Amherst Regional High School in an independent girls’ soccer match Tuesday night at the Woodward Complex in Orange.
Tenney got things going for the Senators in the sixth minute when she found the back of the net on an unassisted goal. Delaney Parker doubled the lead for Mahar (8-4-1) 10 minutes later on a pass from Katie Cleveland, and Lani DeDiego scored the final goal of the half for Mahar a minute later with an unassisted tally.
“Tonight we came out and played a terrific eighty minutes of soccer,” said Mahar coach Chad Softic “It was a complete team effort, Amherst is a Division 1 tournament team, so we can feel good about this one.”
Tenney added the fourth goal right out of halftime, scoring unassisted in the first minute to put the Senators up 4-0. Victoria Tenney was also sharp in net for Mahar, finishing the night with 6 saves.
Rebecca Caraker scored the lone goal of the night for Amherst on an assist from Madison Flucekiger.
Hoosac 6, Mohawk 0 — Hoosac Valley High School had six different players score goals as the Hurricanes rolled to a 6-0 win over Mohawk Trail Regional High School in an independent girls’ soccer match Tuesday evening in Buckland.
Ellie Field, Chloe Martel, Carah Cote, Madison Graves, Claudia Bresett and Olivia Bresett all scored goals in support of Kailynn Frederick, who stopped 3 shots to earn the clean sheet.
Lilly Seaver was busy in net for the Warriors stopping 20 shots in the loss.