SOUTH DEERFIELD — A hat trick from Maddie Fagan, a pair of goals from Skyler Steele and a tally from Addy Morrey for good measure propelled the Frontier girls soccer team to a 6-0 home victory over Pioneer on a sun-filled Monday afternoon.
The Redhawks controlled much of the possession throughout the game, and it led to a whopping 32 shots on goal. Panthers goalie Kyler McClelland did everything she could with over 20 saves, but Frontier’s firepower was too much in the end.
“Very proud of my girls,” Redhawks head coach Lauren Sullivan said. “We’re a young team, but we’re really learning to work together well. I think that future is bright for Frontier soccer… I love that we have a lot of options up top, because you can’t man-mark one person. Sometimes team might look at the stats and pick one person to mark, but our team has a lot of depth offensively so it makes it hard to man mark us.”
Coming off a big Bi-County League win last Friday over Franklin Tech, and with another important league contest on Tuesday against St. Mary’s, Pioneer head coach Matt Killeen only played several of his top players for about 10 minutes on Monday.
Starting center back and captain Leah Potter and forwards Maddie Keefe and Dzelila Cecunjanin were all dealing with nagging injuries, so the Panthers decided to play it safe and save them for Tuesday.
“There were a lot of people playing positions they had never played before, and were being asked to do things that probably aren’t in their wheelhouse yet,” Killeen said. “I was really proud of them for bringing a lot more intensity in the second half and tried to make it happen.”
The Panthers have their eyes set on a Bi-County League title, and that’s why Killeen wanted to schedule tougher independent games — so his group is battle-tested for league play.
Matches against the likes of Brattleboro, Lenox, Chicopee Comp and of course Monday’s bout with Frontier will serve as good stepping stones for that preparation.
“We scheduled a very aggressive non-league schedule,” Killeen said. “The way I phrased it to the girls at the beginning of the year is, ‘We have a standard to play to.’ So when we play the tougher teams, it’s a chance to put our standard up to really look in the mirror at it. We’ve had the opportunity to see where we need to shore things up, and we’d like to apply those lessons to the league games and really compete for it.”
Through Frontier’s first two games, the Redhawks have posted a pair of shutouts. Their defense has been terrific at not only making it hard for opposing teams to find windows to shoot, but when they get the ball, their combinations through the midfield and up to the forwards are crisp and quick.
As much as the offense deserves credit for its six goals, the defense has impressed Sullivan the same amount.
“Our defense is really disciplined,” she said. “We’ve been doing a good job of dropping early, working together and moving as a unit. We’re working toward playing more of a defensive game, and sometimes that’s hard to do.”
Along with Fagan’s three, Steele’s pair and Morrey’s score, Steele, Calli Gifford, Maggie Nichols (two), and Mara Allium (two) all dished out assists for Frontier. Goalies Jazzy Hayes and Kayla Tudryn each made one save in the victory.
Frontier (2-0) next hosts Granby on Friday.
Boys soccer
Franklin Tech 4, Pioneer 1 — Nathan Gheorghita tallied a pair of goals, and the Eagles scored four goals for the second game in a row to open the season en route to a decisive victory on Monday in Northfield.
Cody Yetter and Sorin Marin also tallied for Franklin Tech, which improved to 2-0 with the win. Jon Gheorghita added an assist in the win.
Pioneer’s Hayden Killeen tallied for the hosts.
Hopkins 5, Athol 2 – Nate Rickles scored four goals for the Golden Hawks, which built a 3-1 halftime lead and tacked on a pair after intermission to earn the victory.
Andrew Botti and Ralle Anderson tallied for Athol, while Drake Wing (who made seven saves in net) added an assist.
Westfield Tech 2, Mahar 0 — Carter Archambault made 10 saves in net for the Senators, which couldn’t generate enough offense to keep pace with the Tigers on Monday.
Golf
Athol 154, Turners Falls 201 — Ethan Heuer continued his hot start to the season, firing a 3-under 32 to lift the Bears at Ellinwood Country Club in Athol.
Brandon Adams and Owen Stoddard each shot 39 to power Athol (3-2), while Dominik St. Andre (44) also factored into the scoring.
Ethan Eichorn (40) carded the low round for the Thunder. Cam Cogswell also broke 50 to aid the cause with a 49.
Franklin Tech 160, Hopkins 165 — The Eagles won a tight battle between two of the top sides in the area on Monday, led by Jack Day’s medalist round of 35.
Grady Deery (39), Braeden Talbot (39) and Mason Vassar (47) were the other scorers for Franklin Tech in the victory.
West Springfield 151, Frontier 165 – Jacob Cornelison posted the low round of the day for the Redhawks, as his 36 led the way in an independent loss.
Brady Wood and Christian Powell each shot 42 for Frontier.
Westfield Tech 172, Mohawk Trail 215 — Conner Bergeron led the way for the Warriors with a round of 43 in Monday’s loss.
Other scorers for Mohawk Trail were Gus Foote (56), Dean Bardwell (59) and Sam Mizula (57).
Smith Voc 186, Pioneer 196 — Chayton Massa carded the low round for the Panthers, a 46, in Monday’s loss.
Michael Cyhowski was close behind, also breaking 50 with a round of 49 for Pioneer.
Field hockey
Greenfield 3, Minnechaug 2 – It was a rollercoaster of a game in Greenfield on Monday, as the Green Wave led 2-0 entering the fourth quarter only to watch the visiting Falcons rally with a pair to pull even at Donna Woodcock Field.
But Greenfield had something left in the tank, as Maddie Lemay buried a goal off a feed from Grace Laurie with just one minute remaining in regulation to lift the Wave to a thrilling 3-2 victory.
Kenzie Boswell scored a pair of first-half goals to stake Greenfield (1-1) to a 2-0 halftime lead. Gloria McDonald assisted on the first goal.
Kayden Viencek made eight saves in the Wave cage. Next up is Belchertown on the road Thursday before Greenfield hosts Longmeadow on Friday.
Turners 2, Holyoke 0 – Khalifa Seck and Jazzlyn Gonzalez found the back of the net for the Thunder, which improved to 2-0 on the season with a second consecutive shutout win on Monday night in Turners Falls.
Goalkeeper Connor Glennon pitched his second consecutive shutout between the pipes for the Thunder.
Girls volleyball
Frontier 3, Agawam 2 — The Redhawks fell down 2-0 to Agawam very quickly, but they roared back for a reverse sweep in what was a much-needed victory to give them their first victory of the season on Monday evening in South Deerfield.
Set scores were 12-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-21, 15-9.
Caitlin Maio recorded a team-high 10 kills and a team-high 23 digs, Greta Hale (six digs, one ace) and Avah Spearance (eight digs, two aces) each had seven kills, Morgan Mason tallied four aces and 11 digs and Cadence Martin racked up 31 assists and four aces of her own in Frontier’s win.