Pioneer strikes late, ties Mahar

Things looked bleak for the Pioneer Valley Regional School boys’ soccer team late in its game against Mahar Thursday afternoon in Northfield.

The Senators scored two consecutive goals in the second half to take a 2-0 lead and held that advantage with five minutes to play. A pair of goals less than three minutes apart helped the Panthers draw with the Senators, 2-2, in a McGrath Division boys soccer game.

Trailing 2-0, Jason Quinn struck for his first career varsity goal when he hit a volley from 32 yards out that beat Mahar goalie Logan Dodge. Two minutes, 45 seconds later, Garrett Cote scored on an assist from Felix Pruitt-Dahl.

“In the last 10 minutes of this game we became a team, we became the 2018 Pioneer Panthers tonight,” Pioneer coach Don Fraser said.

The late flurry helped Pioneer shake off a 6-0 loss to Mt. Greylock on Wednesday.

“We took a beating, yesterday,” Fraser said. “This was a league game and it was really important to us, so we wanted to play well.”

Mahar and Pioneer still occupy the top two spots in the division with the Senators holding a one-point lead at the top. 

Neither team found the back of the net in a scoreless first half but it did not take long for someone to score after halftime as Charlie Anderson gave Mahar a 1-0 lead one minute into the second half on an assist from Riley Drew.

“So much for my halftime speech,” joked Fraser.

Drew made it 2-0 in favor of the visitors in the 61st minute as he finished off a pass from Henry Ndayisaba.

Both teams finished with eight shots on net and Pioneer’s Ryan Underwood and Mahar’s Dodge each stopped six shots.

Gateway 1, Athol 0 — A second-half goal from Zach Otterbeck proved to be the difference Thursday night. The Gateway sniper netted the game-winner to give host Gateway a 1-0 win over Athol in a Schmid Division boys soccer game in Huntington.

Otterbeck tallied with an assist from Evan Lee for the Gators (3-4-1, 3-4-1), which received a combined seven saves from goalkeepers Jon Foley and Preston Coffey. 

Athol (6-5, 4-4) was led by goalkeeper Casey Mason’s 10 saves.

The Red Raiders have lost three games in a row after a 6-2 start. They look to get back on track Tuesday on the road at Renaissance.

Girls soccer

St. Mary’s 3, FC Tech 0 — Allie Goodreau scored all three of her team’s goals in the second half, and visiting St. Mary’s blanked Franklin Tech, 3-0, in a Tri-County League girls soccer game Thursday in Turners Falls.

Goodreau got the scoring started for St. Mary’s (6-2-2, 6-2-2) in the 42nd minute before adding a penalty kick goal in the 49th minute and a final tally in the 56th minute.

Franklin Tech (4-5-1, 4-4-1) received five saves in net from Emily Merritt. The Eagles travel to play at Putnam on Tuesday.

Pope Francis 4, Mohawk 1 — Taylor Loomis found the back of the net in what was a much better second half from Mohawk, but the host Warriors dug too deep a hole in a 4-1 loss to Pope Francis Thursday in an independent game in Buckland.

Trailing 4-0 at halftime, Mohawk (1-6-2) held the visiting Cardinals (4-6) off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Loomis scored the lone goal for the hosts with an assist from Sage Spitzer.

Alissa Easton tallied twice for Pope Francis, which outshot Mohawk by a 21-3 margin. Goalkeeper Amelie Rowehl recorded 15 saves to help the home team, which travels to play at Frontier tonight at 6.

Athol 3, Hopkins 1 — A scoreless first half was followed by a strong offensive second frame for the Athol girls soccer team on Thursday. Ally Raymond scored two goals after intermission to help the Red Raiders get back in the win column with a 3-1 victory over Hopkins in a Pioneer North contest at O’Brien Field in Athol.

Grace Dufour assisted on both Raymond goals, and also found the back of the net herself to help Athol (6-4, 3-3) secure the win.

Tia Fyden scored for Hopkins (3-8, 1-6) with an assist from Samantha Jenks.

Athol held a 12-5 edge in shots. Goalkeeper Jenna St. Cyr, who continues to play in place of injured Haley Wrigley, made four saves.

Girls volleyball

Frontier 3, Longmeadow 0 — Behind double-digit kill performances from both Lauren Davenport and Olivia Deane, the Frontier volleyball team kept its perfect PVIAC East record intact Thursday night. The Red Hawks swept Longmeadow, 25-23, 25-19, 25-11, at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield.

Davenport had 12 kills while Deane also put down 12 kills in a pair of big offensive performances. Setters Elizabeth Fuqua and Olivia Rosewarne combined for 26 assists, as Frontier improved to 12-1 overall, 4-0 in the East.

Ashley Telega totaled four kills in the win while Hailey Orloski tossed in three kills. Deane registered four aces to pace the service attack, with Telega contributing three and Davenport adding two.

The defense was powered by Reilly Isler, who totaled 15 digs to pace the back row. Davenport was also in double figures with 11 digs, followed by Fuqua with eight digs, as well as Rosewarne and Telega with seven apiece.

Frontier has an interesting match Sunday when it welcomes Notre Dame Academy at 2 p.m. in South Deerfield.

Mohawk 3, Pioneer 0 — Annika Tormanen registered five aces and four kills but Pioneer suffered a 25-15, 25-23, 26-24 loss to Mohawk in a Northern Division girls volleyball match Thursday in Northfield.

No Mohawk stats were provided.

Abby Briggs had four aces in the loss, and Cambria Johnson-Brown added three aces and six kills.

Athol 3, Greenfield 0 — Abby Roberts and Alexis Carrasquillo had seven kills each to help Athol capture its first win of the season Thursday night. The visiting Red Raiders captured a 25-23, 26-24, 25-18 sweep of Greenfield in a Northern Division volleyball match at Nichols Gymnasium in Greenfield.

Lexi Forte had 12 assists, 10 digs and two aces for Athol (1-11, 1-3), while teammate Katelyn Mahan added 13 digs and a pair of aces. Carrasquillo paced the defensive effort with 15 digs and tossed in five aces.

Greenfield (1-8, 1-3) was led by Lexxie Rowell’s 10 assists and nine aces. Alexis Farrick put down four aces and Ngawang Tridytsang added three kills and four aces.

Sabis 3, Turners Falls 2 — Dabney Rollins had six kills, three aces and a block but Turners Falls fell to Sabis, 25-15, 14-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-8 in an independent girls volleyball match Thursday in Springfield.

Taylor Murphy had eight kills, four aces and a blocked shot, and Mercedes Morales added three kills and two aces.

Boys cross country

Greenfield 16, McCann 45
Greenfield 15, Pioneer 50
McCann 20, Pioneer 39 — Tyssen LaBombard bested the field by some 27 seconds, and his individual victory propelled Greenfield to a tri-meet sweep of Pioneer and McCann Tech in Pioneer North boys cross country action Thursday at Highland Park in Greenfield.

LaBombard traversed the 5-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 6 seconds, holding off teammate and runner-up Andy Bostrom who crossed in 20:33.

Greenfield (7-1 overall, 4-1 North) swept the top four spots, with Alex Tirrell finishing third (21:19) and Elijah Stathis taking fourth (21:50). Dylan Badillo was sixth overall in 21:58.

Pioneer’s Noah deRuiter represented his team with a 10th place finish in 23:22.

Girls cross country

Greenfield 17, McCann 38 — The Greenfield girls team swept the top three spots, with Louisa Calame taking the victory to help the Wave get past McCann Tech on Thursday.

Calame won by over a minute for Greenfield (4-1, 2-1), crossing the line in 23:59. Kandice Lu was the runner-up in 25:25, followed in third place by Johanna Guiod in 28:18.

Morghan Blanchard was fifth (29:23) and Eva Heath was seventh (29:46) to help pace the Green Wave.

Pioneer’s Lucy Koester was first across for the Panthers in sixth place (29:24).

BOYS SOCCER

Mahar 2, Pioneer 2

Goals: (M) Anderson, Drew. (P) Jas. Quinn, Cote.

Assists: (M) Drew, Ndayisaba. (P) Pruitt-Dahl.

Shots: Mahar 8. Pioneer 8.

Saves: (M) Dodge 6. (P) Underwood 6.

Gateway 1, Athol 0

Goals: (G) Otterbeck.

Assists: (G) Lee.

Shots: Athol 7. Gateway 11.

Saves: (A) Mason 10. (G) Foley 4, Coffey 3.

GIRLS SOCCER

Athol 3, Hopkins 1

Goals: (H) Fyden. (A) Raymond 2, Dufour.

Assists: (H) Jenks. (A) Dufour 2.

Shots: Hopkins 5. Athol 12.

Saves: (H) Palmisano 9. (A) St. Cyr 4.

St. Mary’s 3, FC Tech 0

Goals: (SM) A. Goodreau 3.

Assists: (SM) Gargan, E. Goodreau.

Shots: St. Mary 10. FC Tech 6.

Saves: (SM) Willenborg 6. (FT) Merritt 5.

Pope Francis 4, Mohawk 1

Goals: (PF) Easton 2, Turmel, Shannon. (M) Loomis.

Assists: (PF) Simis, Cardinale. (M) Spitzer.

Shots: Pope Francis 21. Mohawk 3.

Saves: (PF) Longo 2. (M) Rowehl 15.

CROSS COUNTRY

Greenfield 16, McCann 45
Greenfield 15, Pioneer 50
McCann 20, Pioneer 39

(at Greenfield, 3.1 miles)

1. LaBombard (G), 20:06, 2. A. Bostrom (G), 20:33, 3. Tirrell (G), 21:19, 4. Stathis (G), 21:50, 5. Hartley (MT), 21:52, 6. Badillo (G), 21:58, 7. Beany (MT), 22:11, 8. K. Bostrom (G), 22:56, 9. Passiglia (G), 23:04, 10. deRuiter (P), 23:22.

Greenfield 17, McCann 38

(at Greenfield, 3.1 miles)

1. Calame (G), 23:59, 2. Lu (G), 25:24, 3. Guiod (G), 28:18, 4. Tetlow (MT), 28:41, 5. Blanchard (G), 29:23, 6. Koester (P), 29:24, 7. Heath (G), 29:46, 8. Goodell (MT), 34:25, 9. Scalise (MT), 39:45, 10. Marceau (MT), 39:51.