WHATELY — A few poor touches put the Frontier Regional boys soccer team out of position.
Central’s Jason Deleon raced up the left side of the field following a turnover, while Luis Hernandez faded toward the middle of the field.
Frontier keeper Nick Jarvis shaded toward Deleon, who delivered a cross that Hernandez headed into the right side of goal in the 57th minute.
“That ball in was just excellent, tough to deal with,” Frontier senior Sam Felton-Emrick said.
That was the game’s only goal as Central won 1-0 at Herlihy Field on Monday. The Red Hawks lost by that score for the fourth time this season.
“We’re losing a lot of games 1-0,” Frontier coach Evan Horton said. “We’re playing excellent defensively, we’re just struggling to finish.”
Frontier (4-6-2, 0-5 Moriarty) controlled possession for most of the first half. The Red Hawks earned a corner in the 19th minute. For all their control, though, they rarely tested Central keeper Jacob Bakowski.
“We struggle to take opportunities. We want everything to be perfect,” Horton said. “We need to take into account that perfect isn’t what we care about, we care about balls in the back of the net.”
The Red Hawks thought they created their best chance when Tanner Finch was dragged down in the box for what could have been a penalty in the 38th minute. Instead, the referee didn’t blow his whistle, and the teams entered halftime tied 0-0.
Central (10-3-1, 5-0-1) picked up its counterattack in the second half. Jordan Rodriguez shook loose down the right side and sent a long shot that rang the post in the 55th minute.
“Against this team if we get sucked out of position I think there’s opportunities for us to be countered,” Horton said. “I have good trust in our back line that they’re able to cover and handle that. They’ve got two guys up top who are quick and can score on command.”
Seven minutes later, Cairn Bright cleared a ball off the goal line after Jarvis (five saves) left his line to deal with a breakaway. Jarvis stayed out on Central’s next counter a minute later and took the ball from Rodriguez before he could create anything.
“That’s something we worked on with him a lot, trying to get him in the right space,” Horton said. “He’s worked on that to try and get himself there.”
After the goal, Central shifted into a more defensive posture, while the Red Hawks ratcheted up their pressure. Frontier created two late corners, and one nearly found the back of the net in the 77th minute. Bakowski grabbed the corner out of the air, but dropped the ball transferring it to his left hip. It bounced in front of him outside the goal line. Frontier’s players thought it crossed the line during the exchange.
“I think we had a goal that wasn’t called. I think we had a PK that wasn’t called,” Horton said. “I’m not going to be one of those coaches that complains about the referees, but I think there were some poorly handled things that ultimately affected the outcome of the game, which is unfortunate for the kids. If a ball’s in the net and a guy’s looking at it or a guy’s pulled down and it’s not called, I don’t understand what we’re doing.”
The Red Hawks have six games left and need eight points to qualify for the tournament. Three of those games are Moriarty League contests against Chicopee, Chicopee Comp and Holyoke, then Frontier closes the regular season with games at Mount Greylock, at Northampton and home for Monson.
“I’m confident we can get the results we need,” Horton said. “I would have liked to have notched one of those today, but I’m also impressed enough with how we played to think that if we play this way going forward we’ll pick up those four wins.”