Fast start helps Tigers eliminate Green Wave

Greenfield High School’s first postseason experience in 15 years came to an end on Saturday with a 8-0 loss to South Hadley in the first round of the WMass Division 3 Girls Soccer Tournament in South Hadley.

The top-seeded Tigers (19-0-0) jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first half over the 16th-seeded Green Wave (7-8-1), who were playing their first tournament game since 2003. Despite the final score, first-year Green Wave coach Tina Riddell said she was proud of everything her players accomplished this season as they learned to believe in themselves.

“My whole season was getting them to believe that they could do things on the field,” she explained. “You may not do a slide tackle and get the ball every time, but at least try it, it might happen. It’s tools to build upon for next season. They know they need to come into preseason in a little better shape, but they have seen that they can be successful.”

It was an up and down season for the Wave, who started 4-1 and then sputtered a bit in the middle of the year before turning it on again at the end to qualify for the tournament.

“I think people took them for granted because of the past history,” Riddell said. “They worked hard at practice all season long and never game up. The two months really flew by and I enjoyed my time with them so much. I looked forward to going to games to see if they could pull out something that we worked on in practice. They were a great group.”

The good news for Riddell and the Wave is that the team had just one senior — Trinity Shamrock, who moved to Greenfield from California prior to the season. Riddell said that she was starting six freshmen, two sophomores and an eighth-grader, which has the team set for future success.

“They know what they need to work on and do so they can avoid being the last seed and having to go play at the top seed in the first round,” she explained.

Dina Samake, who was thrust into playing goalkeeper this season out of necessity and played well all season for the Wave, finished with 24 saves.

“Dina played amazing,” Riddell said. “She has a regular uniform and after the first half, I asked her if she wanted to play on the field. She looked at me and said, ‘I want 30 saves, tonight.’”

Reese Carey scored four goals for the Tigers, who move on to face eighth-seeded Mt. Greylock in the quarterfinals. Paige Marjanski and Anna Evans each had one goal and one assist, and Lindsay Marjanski and Teagan Gawron each scored once. Olivia Blaney, Alexa Blaney and Farrell Dawson each had two assists, and Bailey Gawron made one save for the shutout.

Wahconah 3, Pioneer 0 — Wins and losses are not always a reflection of what the scoreboard reads. Case in point, the Pioneer girls soccer team’s performance Saturday night.

Despite being the 15th seeds in the WMass Division 3 field and having to go on the road and face second-seeded Wahconah, the Panthers threw everything they had at the Warriors eventually succombing, 3-0, in Dalton.

“Honestly, it’s far from disappointing,” Pioneer coach Nikki Pullen said. “It was not about the outcome, it was about the performance and our performance was stellar.”

Wahconah (12-3-2) did control much of the play and peppered the Pioneer net with 39 shots but Panther senior netminder Leah Fuess was up for the challenge, turning aside 36 shots.

“She deserves an All-State award,” Pullen said. “Even the Wahconah coach said, ‘Unbelievable.’ She was just a force. This game, more than ever, I was just screaming her name with excitement from the sidelines.”

That performance helped send the Panthers (6-7-4) into halftime trailing only 1-0 after a Chloe Accardi goal in the 10th minute. Wahconah came out in the second half and scored twice in the first 11 minutes, but was never able to pull away from the scrappy Panthers. Pullen attributed the success not only to her goalie, but to a great effort by her entire team. 

“I saw intensity across the board, the most intensity I’ve seen from the team. It was the best defensive performance I have seen from my team and they never gave up,” Pullen said.

Sweeper Jordan Hubbard also had a big game for the Panthers.

The future remains bright for Pioneer, which had just two seniors on the roster, and Pullen said the experience gained from Saturday’s performance will go a long way.

“We are still a developing team,” Pullen said. “We should be really strong next year.”

Cat Boino and Allison Washburn each scored for Wahconah, and Michaela Monecchi made one save for the shutout.

 Wahconah 3, Pioneer 0

Goals: (W) Accardi, Boino, Washburn.

Assists: (W) Cote, Gamberoni.

Shots: Pioneer 1. Wahconah 39.

Saves: (P) Fuess 36. (W) Moncecchi 1.

South Hadley 8, Greenfield 0

Goals: (SH) Carey 4, L. Marjanski, T. Gawron, P. Marjanski, Evans.

Assists: (SH) O. Blaney 2, A. Blaney 2, Dawson 2, P. Marjanski, Evans.

Shots: Greenfield 1. South Hadley 32.

Saves: (G) Samake 24. (SH) B. Gawron 1.