AMHERST — The scene was tense between the Amherst and Northampton girls soccer teams on Friday. 

Amherst held a 3-1 lead midway through the second half, but the Blue Devils refused to give the ‘Canes an inch. Northampton finally got the momentum it needed when Willow Claps corralled a ball that went off a defender’s leg and fired it into the net, making it a one-goal game with less than 20 minutes remaining on the clock. 

It was exactly what Northampton needed. And just moments later, it was taken away. 

Unwilling to let the Blue Devils mount a comeback, Amherst’s Madeline Hockman gained control of the ball and ripped it past Northampton keeper Annalise Oravec to make it 4-2, restoring the ‘Canes two-goal lead. 

“I definitely felt a sense of urgency, and I think our team performs really well under urgency,” Hockman said. “I think right when they scored we all felt a little frustration which led to more competitive, urgent playing. I saw the ball and I ran, and just placed it in the corner.”

Though Northampton did respond again with an unassisted goal from Allie Sullivan, Hockman’s third goal of the contest stood as the game winner in a 5-3 victory. Hockman’s hat trick led the offensive charge for the ‘Canes, with Zola Higham netting the home team’s other two goals. Malia Silver scored Northampton’s first goal of the game. 

“This, I think, was a turning point for us,” Amherst head coach Don Fraser said. “We had two losses in a row and it's really hard to get your energy up after a loss… and they did it. Everybody brought full energy and supported each other. As long as we support each other we can beat anybody.” 

The two teams went into halftime tied 1-1. Hockman scored her first goal of the game at the five-minute mark to give Amherst an early lead, but Northampton scored in the dying minutes of the half when Silver positioned herself at the goal mouth on a beautiful direct kick from Margaux Galvin. The ball bounced around the goalie box and Silver was in the right place at the right time to put it away. 

Amherst’s defense made sure the game stayed tied at halftime, particularly Ivorie Arguin, who made back-to-back goal line saves when keeper Neena Chinappa went out to challenge shots. 

Hockman scored her second goal of the game two minutes into the second half, racing up the side before blasting a shot home. Higham made it 3-2 off a corner kick play, again getting in the right place at the right time; she also closed out the game with a goal in the 73rd minute of the contest. Amherst keeper Chinappa made five saves, as did Northampton goalie Oravec. 

It was a sobering defeat for the Blue Devils after a dominant start to the season. Northampton won its first three games of the year but have been on a skid, in part due to injuries, dropping their last three games. The squad huddled up for a lengthy team meeting after Friday’s loss to Amherst, looking for ways to get back to the way they know they can play. 

“It’s just a little bit of frustration. There's times of really good play. I’m not saying we're in a little bit of a slump, but we're missing a little bit of joy of the game and one-two touch and that pretty possession that we were playing in the first three games of our season,” Northampton head coach Vanessa Butynski said. “But I do believe that we had a good conversation today and hopefully we can turn that around. We'll work on ourselves and hopefully that will turn around next week.”

Belchertown 1, West Springfield 0 — Brianna Ribeiro netted the only goal of the game, and her second-half strike lifted the Orioles to a key 1-0 victory on Friday.

Morghan Litz assisted on Ribeiro’s goal, while goalie Michaela Dubey stopped all eight shots she faced for the shutout.

Southwick 5, Granby 0 – Keeper Meredith Bartosz made seven saves for the Rams in the loss to Southwick. 

Pope Francis 3, South Hadley 0 – South Hadley fired six shots on goal but couldn’t get one past Pope Francis’ keeper. 

Tigers goalie Drew Alley made a dozen saves in the loss. 

Boys soccer

Hopkins 2, Gateway 2 – Ivan Chepurenko and Dalton Savoy both scored for Gateway and Chace Earle netted both of Hopkins goals in a draw. 

Gateway keeper Zack Hess made eight saves and Hopkins goalie Logan Bye made four saves.

Granby 1, Greenfield 0 – Colin Murdock scored the only goal of the game on a penalty kick in the second half of the contest. 

Rams goalie Daniel Santiago made three saves to earn the shutout.

PVCICS 5, PVCA 2 –  Nolan Gage scored in the opening minute and Teddy Scott scored two goals and an assist for the Dragons. 

Clayton English (1G, 1A) and Patrick Canavan-Gosselin (1G) also scored for PVCICS. Keeper Damian Loinaz made four stops. 

Smith Academy 7, Sci-Tech 0 – Cameron Graves netted two goals and an assist and Ben Hudzik, Cajun Benson and Greg Stone all tallied a goal and an assist in a shutout win on Friday night. 

Falcons keeper Jake Wilcox made two saves for the shutout. Ayden Whalen and Jack Brady scored Smith Academy’s other goals, and Matthew Scagel and Sam Stanton had a helper apiece. 

Smith Voc 4, Franklin Tech 0 — Josh Cole scored a trio of goals in the final 40 minutes of play for the Vikings to record a hat trick and defeat the Eagles, 4-0, in a Tri-County League contest. 

Jared Small scored off an assist from Jon Peters to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead at the half. Cole then scored two unassisted goals in the second half while adding a third goal that was assisted by Jacob Maloney. 

South Hadley 3, Lenox 2 — Nolan Masse netted a pair of South Hadley goals, as the Tigers held off Lenox for a Moriarty League victory on Friday.

Moki Kovacs also scored for South Hadley. Ari Alatalo assisted on two first-half strikes, and Sam Morozov recorded the helper on Masse’s second half goal. Noah Carillon made nine saves in net.

Hampshire 9, Pittsfield 1 – Owen Miller scored a hat trick and added an assist and Dan Martin had a goal and four helpers in a Raiders win. 

Jesse Connors scored a pair and goalies Liam Pond and Colin Holt made four and three saves, respectively. Brendan Stevenson (1G, 2A), Aidan Miklasiewicz (2G, 1A) and Aidan Moynahan (1A) also found the scoresheet. 

Field hockey

Frontier 7, Holyoke 0 — The Redhawks offense got to work on Friday, scoring three goals in the first half and four more in the second en route to a 7-0 independent victory.

Hailey Hutkoski scored two goals for Frontier and assisted on another, while Ashley Taylor, Stella Heflin, Claire Kirkendall, Maddison McKemmie and Rowan Reilly all added markers. Macy DeMaio had two assists for the Hawks, and Kyra Richards stopped four shots for the shutout in the Frontier cage.

Golf

Belchertown 156, Hampshire 175
Belchertown 156, Chicopee 175 – Michael Murray and Jared Haynes both shot 38s in the Orioles victory against both Hampshire and Chicopee. 

Third and fourth golfers Henry Poissant and Brady Jolly also tied, both shooting 40s to score for Belchertown. 

Pryden Messier shot a team-low 41 for Hampshire. Cole Boissanneault (43), Owen Lech (44) and Camden Jarosz (47) also scored. 

Girls volleyball

Belchertown 3, Ludlow 0 – Ava Shea led the Orioles with four kills and two assists in a three set win (25-14, 25-10, 25-6). 

Christina Santiago added four aces and four digs in the win. 

PV Christian 3, Granby 0 – The Rams fell in three sets to Pioneer Christian (25-18, 25-15, 25-18). 

Ariana Beaulieu had 20 digs and Lyla Bergeron had two kills and three aces. 

South Hadley 3, Athol 2 – The Tigers pulled off a comeback win, dropping the first two sets before winning the following three sets to capture a five-set marathon (10-25, 18-25, 25-14, 25-12, 15-6). 

Freshman Grace Matyszewski led the team with 13 kills, eight aces and six digs. Raquel Losty finished with six kills and seven aces. Milana Stefagolo added nine aces in the victory. 

Smith Voc 3, Hampden West 0 – The Vikings made quick work of Hampden Charter West, reeling off a three-set win (25-9, 25-10, 25-8)

Irelyn Marcoux and Heidymar Diaz-Lopez led the offensive charge with seven and six kills, respectively. Diaz-Lopez also led the team with four aces and teammate Jaelyn Kulas had four digs. Setter Roma Bentrewicz finished with 11 assists and Josie Dubay posted one block. 

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