Championship 'extra special' for Frontier Regional coach Missy Mahar
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SOUTH HADLEY - Missy Mahar waited six years for this championship. What's an extra 21 minutes, 50 seconds?
After leading her alma mater Frontier Regional to back-to-back Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament titles in 2004 and 2005, the Red Hawks finally raised the trophy again Friday afternoon at Mount Holyoke College.
"It was a long time ago," Mahar said of the last titles. "It's almost extra special. We had a long lapse and finally to get back into the tournament, get back into the final game and have these girls bring home the trophy makes it extra special because there was that lapse."
Mahar was Missy Phillips then, but has since gotten married and become a mother. She also went through Frontier missing the postseason for the first time ever in 2006 and then again in 2007 and 2008.
But the current group of seniors came onto the scene as sophomores in 2009 and that began the program's turnaround back to the top. The Red Hawks were back in the postseason that year, reaching the semifinals and falling in a wacky game to South Hadley that included a disallowed goal that was later allowed and time being put back on the clock before the Tigers finally won 3-2 in double overtime.
Last year, it was a seeing-eye bounce off the post that gave Smith Academy a 1-0 victory in the semis.
It was senior Kacey Roberts, a starter on both of those teams as a sophomore and junior respectively, who scored all three Frontier goals in this year's semifinals and finals en route to the title.
"We really worked hard the last two years and it didn't work out as well," Roberts said. "This year, we just got it done."
Roberts scored the golden goal with 8:10 left in the second 15-minute overtime period to give Frontier its 11th all-time WMass title and third in Division 2.
"These seniors, who were playing for me as sophomores, have had high goals all this time," Mahar said. "They played on those teams that couldn't get past the semifinals. To see them win today and be able to celebrate as western Mass. champs is extra special for me. I'm really proud of them.
REPEAT ATTEMPTS - There are five westerdn Massachusetts defending champions back in the finals this weekend.
In boys soccer, Division 1 Ludlow will take on Longmeadow on Sunday at 2:15 p.m., while Division 3 Lenox squares off against Hopkins Academy on Saturday at 11 a.m.
In girls soccer, Division 2 Belchertown squares off against Wahconah on Saturday at 6 p.m.
All the soccer games this weekend will be played at Westfield State University.
In girls volleyball, Longmeadow takes on Amherst Regional at 6:30 for the Division 2 title, while Frontier squares off against Mahar at 4 p.m. Both matches are at Holyoke Community College.
DOUBLE DOUBLEHEADER DAY - Two schools will have soccer doubleheaders at Westfield State on Saturday. In Division 3, the Lenox boys square off against Hopkins at 11 a.m. and then the girls play Granby at 1:15.
In Division 2, the Belchertown boys play Mount Greylock at 3:30 followed by the girls taking on Wahconah at 6.
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
