Soccer: Wrisley tallies twice as Hawks blank Athol

Jess Wrisley put home a goal in each half, and host Frontier Regional School made the plays when it needed to en route to a solid 3-0 shutout of Athol High School in a Pioneer North girls soccer game Tuesday night in South Deerfield.

The host Red Hawks, which clinched a postseason berth last week, improved to 9-5-2 overall, 6-4-1 in the North. 

“It was a good performance from the girls,” Frontier coach Phil Pittelli offered. “We were able to get into a position where we could play the kind of game we wanted to and make the passes we needed to.”

Natalie Denkiewicz had the other Frontier goal, and she assisted in both of Wrisley’s strikes. Cambrie Hamilton also notched an assist for the hosts.

The Red Hawks outshot Athol (6-9, 3-7) by a 15-3 margin. Goalkeeper Siomara Green made a pair of saves to earn the shutout. Athol’s Haley Wrigley recorded five saves.

Frontier hosts Hopkins Academy Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. in its regular-season finale. Athol, which needs to win its final three games of the season to earn a postseason berth, heads to Mohawk today.

Boys soccer

Pioneer 1, Sci-Tech 1 — Noah Keith tallied with just 20 seconds remaining in regulation, lifting Pioneer to a solid 1-1 draw with undefeated Sci-Tech in McGrath Division play Tuesday afternoon in Springfield.

Trailing 1-0 after a goal by Sci-Tech’s Jorby Sandoval in the 22nd minute, Keith tallied just before the final whistle with an assist from Nate Mousseau to give the Panthers (8-3-3, 4-2-3) a point.

Pioneer goalkeeper Ryan Underwood made seven saves, while Sci-Tech goalie Gabriel Camacho recorded 11 saves.

“The game was mostly played between the boxes, both teams only had a couple good looks,” Pioneer coach Don Fraser said. “We kept our energy up and really took the game over in the last 10 minutes and scored the tying goal with 20 seconds to go.”

The Panthers host Smith Academy on Friday.

Central 1, Frontier 0 — Juan Hernandez scored in the 13th minute, and his tally wound up being the lone goal of the night to help Springfield Central High School edge Frontier, 1-0, in a Moriarty League boys soccer game Tuesday night in Springfield.

The loss did not change Frontier’s path to a league title, as the Red Hawks can still clinch the regular-season crown with a win Friday night at home against Chicopee Comp.

Hernandez took a feed from Joseph McCoy and buried the shot, helping Central (8-6-1, 4-2-1) make a mess of the Moriarty standings with four teams within one point of each other.

“We played lights out the first 15 minutes or so but that goal really started to shift momentum and we were never really able to recover,” Frontier coach Evan Horton said.

Mahar 3, Sabis 3 — Liam O’Donnell scored with three minutes to play on Tuesday and Mahar tied Sabis, 3-3, in a McGrath Division game in Springfield.

The Senators came from behind twice in the second half to salvage the draw. Third-string goalie Jon Mahoney also made six saves to backstop the win in his first-career varsity start.

“I was really impressed with what he’s done for the team and the work he has put in,” Mahar coach Dan Guertin said.

The game marked the fourth consecutive wild contest between the two teams, who have tied 3-3 in three of the previous four meetings, with Sabis earning a 4-3 win in the other meeting.

“These games with Sabis have been pretty interesting,” Guertin said. “No one likes to play defense.”

Henry Ndayisaba gave the Senators (8-5-3) a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute, but Alex Williams tied the game five minutes later and the teams went into the break tied 1-1. Sabis went up 10 minutes into the second half on an Elijah Nixon goal, but Mahar tied the game nine minutes later when Riley Drew scored from Nate Sakowicz. Jovan Wallace struck from Nixon with 10 minutes to play, but O’Donnell tied the game for good with 180 seconds to play.

FC Tech 2, Commerce 1 — It was a tale of two halves for the Franklin Tech boys soccer team on Tuesday as the Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead at halftime and then had to hold on in the second half to earn a 2-1 win over Commerce in an independent game in Turners Falls.

“Our first half was one of the best pieces of soccer we’ve played all season,” Franklin Tech coach Kurt Richardson said. “The way we played in the second half, we were fortunate to come away with a win today.”

The stellar play of Franklin Tech goalie Grayson Funk helped the Eagles maintain the lead in the second half as the Raiders stormed back from two goals down to try to tie the game. 

“He was coming off his line to get their through balls,” Richardson said.

Eddie Ovalle gave the Eagles (13-2-0) a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute when he finished off a feed from Jovanni Ruggiano, and Reuben Galvez made it 2-0 with two minutes to play before halftime on an assist from Ryan Campbell.

Juan Augustin scored 15 minutes into the second from Yordi Velasquez to cut the deficit in half but Funk stopped the other seven shots he faced to earn the victory.

South Hadley 5, Athol 0 — Liam Joy potted two goals, and host South Hadley thumped Athol, 5-0, in a Schmid Division boys soccer game Tuesday night.

The Red Raiders (8-8, 6-6) has two games remaining in the regular season, games against Mahar (Thursday) and Palmer (Monday). Athol needs two points from those two games to earn a postseason berth.

Max McCurdy, Tyler Evans and Jonas Clarke had the other tallies for the Tigers (11-2-2, 8-1-1).

Athol keeper Casey Mason recorded six saves.

Smith Academy 1, Greenfield 0 — Sam Dadmun buried the lone goal of the game with just under three minutes remaining, sending host Smith Academy to a 1-0 victory over Greenfield Tuesday in McGrath Division action in Hatfield.

Ryan Belina made seven saves for the Falcons (5-10, 1-7 McGrath).

Greenfield fell to 1-13, 1-8.

GIRLS SOCCER

Frontier 3, Athol 0

Goals: (F) Wrisley 2, Denkiewicz.

Assists: (F) Denkiewicz 2, Hamilton.

Shots: Athol 3. Frontier 15.

Saves: (A) Wrigley 5. (F) Green 2.

BOYS SOCCER

Central 1, Frontier 0

Goals: (C) Hernandez.

Assists: (C) McCoy.

South Hadley 5, Athol 0

Goals: (SH) Joy 2, McCurdy, Evans, Clarke.

Assists: (SH) McCurdy 2.

Shots: Athol 9. South Hadley 11.

Saves: (A) Mason 6. (SH) Koppi 7, Butzer 2.

Smith Academy 1, Greenfield 0

Goals: (SA) Dadmun.

Mahar 3, Sabis 3

Goals: (M) Ndayisaba, Drew, O’Donnell. (S) Williams, Nixon, Wallace.

Assists: (M) Sakowicz. (S) Nixon, Lazarri.

Shots: Mahar 7. Sabis 9.

Saves: (M) Mahoney 6. (S) Monts 4.

Pioneer 1, Sci-Tech 1

Goals: (P) Keith. (ST) Sandoval.

Assists: (P) Mousseau. (ST) Ramirez.

Saves: (P) Underwood 7. (ST) Camacho 11.

FC Tech 2, Commerce 1

Goals: (C) Augustin. (FT) Ovalle, Galvez.

Assists: (C) Velasquez. (FT) Ruggiano, Campbell.

Shots: Commerce 12. FC Tech 21.

Saves: (C) Rony 10. (FT) Funk 7.