BELCHERTOWN — The Amherst Regional girls lacrosse team held on to defeat league rival Belchertown, 8-5 Tuesday night, for its first win of the season.

“It’s good. I’m excited, finally. We worked hard for it,” Amherst junior Nicole Gerena said.

The Hurricanes (1-4, 1-2 Valley League) came out strong in the first half, scoring six goals and keeping Belchertown (0-3, 0-1 Valley League) off the scoreboard.

“(Tanya Mathers) stoned them in the first half,” Amherst coach Carol Samuels said. “She was really seeing the ball well and the defense was better in the first half than they were in the second half.”

Amherst fell on its heels in the second half. Belchertown scored five goals, three from Morgan Mathurin and two from Elise Pikul, to inch closer.

“We were getting too many fouls of some sort on defense and we weren’t closing up the double-teams, so the quality of shots started to get better,” Samuels said. “I think we just got a little sloppy. We had seven turnovers in the first half and 10 in the second, so we were giving the ball back and maybe lost some focus.”

The Hurricanes tightened up their defense late in the second half, and scored two goals during the Orioles’ rally to fend off losing all the momentum.

Amherst freshman Cleo Hein entered the goal in the second half and had seven saves.

Samuels said there was a sense of urgency with their first win on the line.

Junior Malia McDonald had three goals in the game.

“We’re looking good,” McDonald said. “I think we’re going to be good next year too. Half the time, it’s all freshmen (on the field). By the end of this season, I think we’ll be really good. I just have confidence in this team. We have the confidence to boost our team.”

Junior Jane O’Connell finished with a team-high four goals for the Hurricanes. Freshman Zora Dallman had a goal as well.

Having a competitive edge and a positive attitude in practices enabled the Hurricanes to overcome Thursday’s 15-3 loss to East Longmeadow.

“We keep teaching,” Samuels said. “This is a young team with only one senior, so there’s a lot to teach. This week, with the spring break week, they’re relaxed and well rested and it seems to come together pretty well. Our philosophy is a culture of effort, a standard greater than winning, and that’s when you’ve done your best in practice and every single minute of the game. So just trying to get them to have awareness of their effort or lack thereof and make adjustments, either halfway through practice of halfway through a game. So they are in charge of their own education.”

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