ORANGE - Sherry Webb called moving her Smith Academy field hockey team's home quarterfinal match to the Mahar Regional field a no-brainer before and after Thursday night's game against Pioneer Regional.

The Falcons certainly looked right at home in Orange in a 6-0 victory.

"I thought we had a nice following. It's a lovely environment and the (FieldTurf) surface is a big bonus," said Webb, whose team otherwise would have had to play on its home grass field early in the afternoon. "Obviously, it helps the game. It's a terrific game on turf."

The No. 1 Falcons (17-2) advance to the semifinals, where they will face No. 5 Athol (11-7-1) at Mount Holyoke College at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Smith beat the Red Raiders twice by a combined 10-2 this season.

The Falcons, who finished the year 2-2 in their final four games, got exactly what they needed out of Thursday's win - a clear and decisive victory.

"It was good, especially for us to play on turf. Mahar was gracious enough to let us play here. It was definitely good to win," senior Steph Slysz said. "Hopefully it sets us in the right mood, especially with the way the (regular) season ended."

The No. 8 Panthers (9-9-1) could not handle Slysz's speed, especially on the turf field, and she scored two of the team's three first-half goals to ice the game early. She added an assist in the second half before heading to the bench for the final 16 minutes.

"She's good with the ball and she's good without the ball. The only reason she gets the ball is because she's good without the ball," Webb said. "She knows how to find the spaces and she knows how to move to passes. She's also got a very nice team around her."

With a 1-0 lead, Slysz took possession on the Pioneer side of the field, weaved through two defenders and sprinted 60 yards with the ball as no Panther could catch her. She finally beat goaltender Jordan Bryant (21 saves) to the far side of the box for a 2-0 lead with 18 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first half.

Slysz made it 3-0 with 47 seconds remaining off a corner opportunity that began with Jill Hopfenspirger sending the ball in to Lindsay Gondek at the top of the circle.

Gondek then slipped a pass to Slysz on the right post for an open shot and the goal.

Alyssa Woodward scored the first and last goals of the game, while Sarah Wickles and Gondek each had one goal and one assist before Webb was able to empty her bench in the second half.

"Everyone got to play significant minutes and do some really good things," Webb said. "Hopefully that will help us down the road as we prepare for the next one."

The win marked the third time this year Smith beat Pioneer 6-0.

"The score is no indication of where (the Pioneer) program is," Webb said. "They really did a nice job."

Smith goalie Kierstan Mulcare made one save to earn her seventh shutout of the season.

"We definitely need to keep the whole team chemistry thing going," Slysz said. "We all play well together because we've been playing together for so long. As seniors, we definitely want to go as far as we can."

Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com. For more coverage, including a high school sports blog, go to www.gazettenet.com/hs-sports. Get high school updates delivered into your Facebook newsfeed at www.facebook.com/gazette.hs.