SOUTH HADLEY – A pair of goals from Allison Fleury powered the South Hadley girls soccer team past Monomoy, 2-0, in its Round of 32 victory of the MIAA Division 4 state tournament on Wednesday night.

Fleury scored once in each half as the No. 7 Tigers held off a plucky Sharks squad, which entered the matchup as the 26th seed.

“[Fleury] played great,” South Hadley head coach Rich Marjanski said. “She just had a certain motor today. She just knew she was working hard, her energy level was up, she was tracking back to win balls and she was making great diagonal runs to the goal."

The Tigers (13-4-2) found the back of the net during the 20th minute on a long-range dart from Fleury. The junior belted an off-balance shot from just inside the near-side corner of the box on net that soared into the top-left corner for the 1-0 advantage.

Fleury’s opening tally helped South Hadley tilt the field in its favor for the second half as the first 40 minutes featured chances from both squads.

“I think we talked a lot at half about getting the passes to feet, getting it wide, getting our crosses in, making sure we're playing it on the ground,” Fleury said. “Really just connecting together and working together and getting it up the field.”

"It was pretty simple,” Marjanski said on the message going into the second half. “There were a lot of balls in the first half that were bouncing, where kids weren't really winning the ball. We talked about it at half time, there's no reason that ball should be bouncing on the turf. You have to go and win the ball, so we had to be first to the ball and we responded by winning, pretty much most of  the possession in the second half, which lead to a lot of chances for us.”

About 10 minutes into the second half, Fleury doubled the Tigers’ lead to 2-0 following some slick passes. She received a good ball right in the sweet spot of the box, turned and fired it in for the insurance marker.

It was all South Hadley from then on as the Tigers controlled the play and nearly scored a few more times. Monomoy goalkeeper Maya Flaherty was sharp for the Sharks despite the defeat.

“I think we really just dug deep and realized how important this game is to keep moving on and keep playing,” Fleury said. “We really just found it in us to keep going and put it in the back of the net."

As the reigning state runners-up, this South Hadley squad knows what it takes to make a deep postseason run. Now with one win under its belt in the state tournament this season, the Tigers will look to keep building on a solid opening performance.

“I was just telling the girls a minute ago, as you get to the Round of 16, the competition gets better and obviously the more you move on, teams are a lot better,” Marjanski said. “So you have to step up your play and when you're playing these teams you can't really make any mental mistakes, you got to be there to help your teammates.”

Fleury agreed with her head coach.

"I think it's really just working together, connecting the passes and really like being positive out there,” Fleury said on the key to playoff success. “Really got to have a good mindset and motivate the team.

South Hadley advanced to the Round of 16 where it’ll meet No. 10 West Bridgewater. The teams met during the quarterfinals of the 2023 state tournament, with the Tigers taking the 6-3 win.