HADLEY – The Smith Academy and Hopkins boys soccer rivalry was on full display Thursday afternoon, as the two teams battled to a 1-1 draw in their first of two meetings this season at Hadley Elementary School.

Physicality was at the forefront of the contest. Each team played with a high intensity and motor for the ball, which led to several fouls being called.

First-year Golden Hawks head coach Omar Abdelaal got his first taste of the rivalry between the two programs.

“We look forward to these games, for these big rivalries,” Abdelaal said. “This is my first one as head coach, and I really enjoyed it. In high school sports, physicality is a big part of the game. We just have to teach them not to hurt each other – to play with intensity but play the ball. There was a lot of intensity today.”

Hopkins got on the board first when a deflected ball off a free kick found Ryder Gallo in the box. Gallo measured it up and struck a shot – which was tipped by a Falcons defender – by Smith Academy goalie Jake Wilcox (three saves) 13 minutes into the first half. 

“Sure it was a deflection, but Ryder was very smart to get it and hit it right in the sweet spot,” Abdelaal said. “He played it very well, and he got there with effort. That’s what we wanna keep pushing. We want to be the team that’s known for grit.”

Exactly a minute later, the Falcons answered. Junior Garrett Willard sent a through ball into the box for sophomore Cajun Benson. Benson tracked it down and blasted a shot by Hopkins goalie Logan Bye (four saves) to know the game up at one. With the Golden Hawks defense playing up, Smith Academy responded by beating them with speed.

“We’re trying to take advantage of what the other teams are going to give us,” Falcons head coach Jason Duncan said. “They gave us that look and Cajun did a good job of finishing. I think we need to take more shots. We got a quality look and we scored. I don’t think we got too many other quality looks during the game.”

Smith Academy (0-0-2) has four games next week, starting with Mount Everett on Monday. Duncan knows his team’s mental and physical toughness is going to be tested. In order for the Falcons to have a successful week, they need to play much faster than they did on Thursday.

“We didn’t have any time to do anything [today],” Duncan said. “So we have to figure out how to be more effective moving the ball and how to get rid of it to our teammates quicker.”

Hopkins (0-1-2) returns to the pitch on Monday when it faces Granby at 4 p.m.

Northampton 2, Central 2 – Minti Peterson talled the go-ahead goal off a 30-yard throw-in assist from Jackson Oravec in the second half, but visiting Central equalized shortly thereafter and salvaged a 2-2 draw on Thursday.

Sam Busone scored his seventh goal of the young season with an assist from Peterson to stake the Blue Devils (2-1-1) to a 1-0 halftime lead.

Goalie Koa Klose made three saves in a solid outing for Northampton.

Frontier 1, Mahar 0 — Chanhee Son got the Redhawks on the board in the 38th minute off an assist from Chanmin Son and that was all the scoring Frontier would need, as it shutout the Senators to pick up a Moriarty League win at Herlihy Park on Thursday. 

Owen Babb made two saves in the victory. 

Granby 3, Pioneer 2 – The Rams led 1-0 at halftime, and tallied twice in the second half to hold off the Panthers.

Riley Goodhind, Gavin Moreno and Colin Murdock (PK) all tallied for Granby, with Goodhing and Ben Berger notching assists.

Granby goalie Daniel Santiago made three saves, as the Rams improved to 1-0-1.

Hampshire 7, South Hadley 1 – Dan Martin and Aidan Miklasiewicz both scored a pair of goals in a dominant win for Hampshire over South Hadley. 

Ayden St. Martin picked up a goal and an assist and Owen Miller also scored for the Raiders. Jesse Connors posted an assist for Hampshire. 

Hampshire goalies Liam Pond and Colin Holt made two and one saves, respectively. 

South Hadley tallied via an own goal.

Monson 3, Holyoke 0 – Monson shut out the Purple Knights, dropping Holyoke’s record to 0-4. 

Holyoke goalkeeper Landon Koziara made 16 saves in the loss.

Minnechaug 2, Amherst 0 – Amherst couldn’t get one past Minnechaug goalie Ben Wilson, who made three saves for a shutout. 

Amherst keeper Rabi Mednicoff-Misra made three saves in the loss. 

Field hockey

Belchertown 4, Amherst 0 – Edith Audette, Molly Mazzaferro, Rachel Baltazar and Isabella Cebula all notched goals for the Orioles in a shutout win over Amherst. 

Audette and Laura Cote also each posted an assist in the win. 

Frontier 5, West Springfield 0 – The Redhawks made their first win of the season a resounding one against West Springfield, earning a shutout and getting eight different players on the scoresheet. 

Kate Walker scored twice and Ashley Taylor, Rowan Reilly and Hailey Hutkoski also found the back of the net for Frontier. Macy DeMaio,  Stella Heflin, Brynna Fahey and Claire Kirkendall all notched helpers in the win. 

Goalie Kyra Richards and Abby Schreiber combined for the win in net, with the defense completly shutting down West Springfield and not allowing a single shot on goal. 

Golf

South Hadley 173, Ludlow 174 – The Tigers notched their first win in dramatic fashion against Ludlow on Thursday, securing a single-point victory against the Lions. 

Ludlow golfer Brice Pereira was the medalist with a 37, but South Hadley had four of the next five best scores to help them earn the win. 

Ryan MacGregor shot the low round of the day for the Tigers with a 40. John Viola (44), Bennett Allen (45) and Matthew Blaser (45) also scored for South Hadley. 

Palmer 182, Amherst 226 – Ben Scott earned medalist honors for Amherst with the lowest round of the day (39), but Palmer’s depth earned them the win over the ‘Canes. 

Nate Ziomek also shot a 50 for Amherst in the loss. 

Tantasqua 155, Belchertown 165 – The Orioles fell just short against Tantasqua on Thursday. 

Cal Orzech and Michael Murray both shot 40s for Belchertown in the defeat. 

Frontier 173, Athol 231 — Cam Skiffington shot a match-low 39 to help lift the Redhawks to an independent win over the Bears at the Ellinwood Country Club on Thursday. 

Ryan Cetto (42), Addy Wood (45) and Cade Allenby (47) rounded out the Frontier scorers. 

Girls volleyball

Longmeadow 3, Amherst 0 – The ‘Canes couldn’t overcome Longmeadow’s attack on Thursday in a three-set defeat (25-16, 25-19, 25-17).

Liza Beigel and Ruby Austin had eight digs each; Beigel led the way at the service line with three aces and Austin finished with four kills. Lauren Joy added four kills of her own and setter Annabel Ogden tossed up 10 assists. 

Easthampton 3, SICS 0 – Kaelin Damon recorded six kills to go with six digs, as the Eagles rolled to a 25-17, 25-18, 25-14 sweep.

Katelyn Martin notched four kills while Kierra Carson followed with three kills. Erin Teague notched 16 assists, while Kayley Downie (14 digs) and Addison Sigda (13 digs) paced the back row.

Girls cross country

Northampton 16, Ludlow 47
Northampton 15, Westfield 50 – Northampton put together a near-perfect meet against Ludlow and Westfield on Thursday afternoon. 

Maeve O’Neil and Tess Geis-Benton finished just a second apart from each other in 22:52 and 22:53, respectively. Crossin the line third for the Blue Devils was Mairead O’Neil (23:16), and Charlotte Shimpach (23:26) and Summer Sorensen (24:06) rounded out the scoring for Northampton. 

Northampton will compete at the Ted Dutkiewicz Invitational this weekend. 

Boys cross country

Ludlow 20, Northampton 42 – Teddy King-Pollet crossed the line first for Northampton against Ludlow in 16:45. 

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