It’s time to see if Frontier Regional School can repeat its magical, historic run of a year ago.
The Red Hawks were one five teams seeded for the Western Massachusetts Soccer Tournament during the annual tournament committee meeting Wednesday at Granby High School.
Frontier (10-3-4) — which won the area’s historic first soccer title last season — earned the fourth seed in the Division III field and will wait until Tuesday to open defense of its crown. The Red Hawks will host the winner of the first-round game between fifth-seeded Pope Francis High School (7-7-4) and 12th seeded Putnam Vocational Technical Academy (5-8-5), tentatively scheduled for Friday.
“We feel really good about getting the four seed and we’re excited about hosting a quarterfinal,” said Frontier head coach Dale Totman. “It’s been a goal of ours to host a playoff game since we moved up divisions seven years ago.
“We feel like we have a really good chance to win that game and advance in the tournament,” he added. “We’re playing our best soccer right now and the belief within this team is high.”
Frontier is one of three area teams in the Division II bracket; Athol High School and Mahar Regional School are the others.
The Red Raiders (8-7-3) were seeded ninth in the 12-team field and will journey back to Legion Field for a rematch against eighth-seeded Palmer High School (9-6-3) Saturday at 6 p.m.
If Athol can get past Palmer, it will advance to a quarterfinal matchup Monday at top-seeded Hampshire Regional High School (13-2-1).
Red Raiders head coach Dave King and his squad are happy to get another crack at the Panthers, who were 3-1 winners during their regular-season crossover matchup.
“It’s a good draw for us,” said King. “They have a couple strong offensive players and a good offensive central midfielder, but they lost a lot from last year. We had just changed our formation when we played them, and we’ve improved since then. I think we have a bit to prove.”
The Senators, meanwhile, were placed 11th and will make the long haul to North Adams to take on sixth-seeded Drury High School (13-2-3).
“We didn’t want to have to travel too far, but at the same time everybody’s excited about (Saturday),” said Mahar head coach Dan Guertin. It’s going to be tough and it’s very good team we’re facing, so we’ll really have to work hard.”
If the Senators can spring the upset, they’d face another formidable foe in third-seeded Belchertown High School (10-7-1).
Pioneer Valley Regional School was the other area team qualify on the boys’ side. The Panthers were seeded 10th in the Division IV field have one of the shortest road trips for an away match. They’ll head to Hadley for a first-round matchup against Hopkins Academy.
If Pioneer wins, a trip to the Berkshires and second-seeded Lenox Memorial High School (13-2-3) awaits.
Mahar was the only school to qualify for the girls’ tournament, and the 12-5-1 Senators were fortunate enough to draw the eighth-seed and a first-round home game against ninth-seed Hoosac Valley High School. The match is scheduled for Friday at 3:30 p.m.
If Mahar advances, it will advanced to the quarterfinal in Great Barrington against top-seeded Monument Mountain Regional High School (11-2-2).
“We were expecting (Hoosac), the numbers made sense and I thought that’s where we should have been placed,” said Senators head coach Chad Softic. “The fact that we got a home game over a Berkshire team is great. … We’ve got to finish and make the big saves. It’s going to come down to a handful of plays, and we have to capitalize on our opportunities.”