Northampton season ends in semifinals
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CHICOPEE - Not long ago, the sight of the Northampton boys soccer team pushing perennial superpower Ludlow to its limit was unimaginable.
But it happened Friday night at Szot Park. And while the Blue Devils lost 2-0 to the Lions in the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament semifinals, it was clear that the program took another big step forward this year.
"We'll talk and let these guys decompress a little bit, but tonight they had a memory that will never be taken away," second-year coach Mike Soucy said. "Unfortunately, it didn't go the way we hoped, but they are the first in our program's history to make a Division 1 semifinal and that's certainly something to be proud of for them. It's a testament to how hard they've worked."
Top-seeded Ludlow (16-0-3) advanced to play No. 2 Minnechaug Regional for the sectional title at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Westfield State College.
Just last year, the No. 4 Blue Devils (10-7-3) were eliminated by the Lions 4-0 in the quarterfinals. Ludlow then went on to win the state championship.
Both teams returned a strong core group of players from last season. Northampton moved from the Division 2 Holley to the Division 1 Churchill-Moriarty, and won the league title.
"Being in a different league certainly helped us prepare for the tournament. With the seniors that we had and some of the returning players, it was something that they all wanted," Soucy said. "If we want to build this program up like we're trying to do, we want to play these great teams all the time. It's only going to make us better."
The squads played during the regular season on Sept. 22 at Ludlow, with the Lions winning 5-2.
But 17 games later, the Blue Devils' improvement was clear.
"We've come so far since last year. The chemistry, this group of guys, the bonds we've created this year, is so much more than last year," senior midfielder Jonathan Butler said. Chemistry "has been a huge part of it. The heart that these guys put in this year has been absolutely tremendous."
Northampton carried the play in the first half and Butler, an all-state selection, had three direct kick attempts from between 25 and 30 yards out that just missed over the course of the game.
"That's the game, unfortunately. It's a game of inches. We had the player there that we wanted to take our free kicks. He's dangerous and he proved to be dangerous again" on Friday, Soucy said.
"This is the way soccer works sometimes. A couple inches here or there makes a big difference," he added. "It's a lot different being up 1-0 than being down 1-0. These guys worked their tails off all 80 minutes."
After the Lions survived numerous tense moments, they finally got on the board with 12 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first half.
Fabio Rodriguez sent a high corner across the front of the net, which Alex Goncalves redirected just enough to get into the goal for a 1-0 lead.
"Initially (after the goal), I saw a little deflation. You could see it in their system for 10, 15 seconds and then they were back. They didn't let it bother them," Soucy said.
"A lot of teams could have folded at that point and packed it in," he added. "But this is a senior group. They know what it takes and they knew that they had a lot of game left. I was happy with the way they responded. I didn't think it impacted the way we played."
Butler got his next chance on a direct kick with 4:58 left in the half. This time, he hit the right post and Ludlow quickly cleared it before a Blue Devil could get to the rebound.
"Obviously, I wish I could have put it two more inches to the left. I didn't do what I was hoping to because they didn't go into the net," Butler said. "I hit them where I was hoping to, it just didn't quite fall into the two-inch square it needed to go in."
Butler missed another try in the second half by a foot.
The loss marked the end of the high school careers for Northampton seniors Kieran Bourgeois, Mulugetta Fratkin, Jeff Powers, Charles Cronin, Caleb DesCognets, Patrick Harrington, Eli Liebman, Sam Richardson, Chris Warton, Ellis Cooper, Jackson Hooks Davis, Andrew Marshall, Joseph Savarese, Keaton Zavis and Butler.
Powers made four saves in goal, while the defensive play of Fratkin, Bourgeois, Zavis, Warton and Harrington keyed the team's impressive slowdown of Ludlow's powerful offense.
"We definitely came to play. I think they knew it and the fans knew it," Butler said. "We just had some unlucky bounces. I'm proud of my team."
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 coverage delivered directly to your Facebook newsfeed at www.facebook.com/gazette.hs.
