Pioneer Valley girls soccer falls to Smith Academy 5-3

Peeling off a Pioneer Valley defender, Smith Academy freshman Emily Pearl could not send her teammate Anna Scagel toward the net. But the ball came right back to Pearl, giving her a second chance. With a strong boot through the air, Pearl connected with Scagel, allowing the senior to show off her speed and cross up the defense, finishing with a goal at the end of the first half.

This was Scagel’s third goal of the half.

With the help of Scagel’s hat trick, the Smith Academy girls soccer team defeated Pioneer Valley Regional School 5-3 on Wednesday, reversing the outcome of their previous matchup on Sept. 12 when Pioneer Valley came out victorious, 4-0.

Smith Academy head coach Don Fraser credited the team’s captains with establishing energy.

“The senior captains, Anna [Scagel] and Emma [Tisdell], they really stepped up and talked to the team,” Fraser said. “We lost our last game a couple days ago and we practiced yesterday, and they really talked to the team about coming out with energy. And we switched around a couple of things here and there, but it was really them, the energy they brought.”

That energy radiated off Scagel, who not only scored three goals, but assisted on the other two, which resulted in her being involved with all five Falcons goals.

Fraser, who has coached Scagel since seventh grade, believes the senior has a unique combination of skills not seen very often.

“It’s just a display of grit and compassion,” Fraser said. “You don’t naturally see that, honestly, in elite athletes. She wants the team to do well, but she wants all her teammates to do well. That’s a pretty rare combo.”

Scagel’s grit and compassion were on display with her other two goals as she cleaned up a botched save on one, and popped the ball up and into the net on another.

Apart from her physical play, Scagel credited communication as the way she supports her team.

“I was talking the whole time and I think I got my teammates really hyped up,” Scagel said. “We did really well and we communicated really well.”

As for the Panthers, they made shots, especially numerous high-quality crossing attacks. Among them was a high-arching corner kick in the first few minutes of the game, which resulted in junior Leah Potter sneaking the first goal of the game just past the right goal post and fingertips of goalkeeper Vivian Higuera.

From that point on, it was a battle for Pioneer Valley to keep up with the Falcons’ offense.

“When you get your chances, you got to take them,” Pioneer Valley head coach Matt Killeen said. “But sometimes it’s not your day, sometimes it doesn’t connect, sometimes it’s unlucky.”

Killeen acknowledged Scagel’s performance was difficult to adapt to, but ultimately he felt the loss was on him, despite the relentless play by the Panthers.

Pioneer Valley will face Mahar Regional School on Oct. 9, while Smith Academy will look to protect their winning record of 5-1-4 on Oct. 2 versus Franklin County Technical School.  The Falcons tied the Eagles 2-2 in their last matchup on Sept. 9.

Fraser said he was pleased with his team’s performance and the Falcons will look to continue to improve on their season.

“I think as our season has progressed our kids are maturing, and they’re learning pretty good,” Fraser said. “As a coach I look for improvement every game, and I was looking for improvement over last game. I wasn’t expecting this. It just shows you what a little bit of heart can do.”