EASTHAMPTON — The South Hadley boys soccer team wasted no time jumping on Easthampton during Friday afternoon’s game at Nonotuck Park, and the Tigers sustained their high level of play throughout.

Following a down year in 2023 after winning the state title in 2022, South Hadley (2-0-1) has played like an entirely different team so far this fall.

That continued on Friday.

Matt Gillis scored the game’s first goal nine minutes in en route to a hat trick to propel the Tigers to a 4-0 win. Head coach Mike Gauthier believes the way his team finished off the season last year has given them a belief and confidence that they didn’t possess before. South Hadley is playing like the dominant force it’s been in the past.

“We finished the [2023] season well. Remember, we had to win our last three games to get into the tournament, and we did,” Gauthier said. “I think that carried over to the pre-season training. We had a pretty good summer league, and now we’re off to a good start. Their confidence, no doubt about it, they came into the year confident. Our captains have instilled that in the team.”

Matt Gillis’ first goal was the only one of the half, but the floodgates soon opened in the second. A blocked shot re-directed right to the feet of Ben Gillis, who ripped a low boot to the left side of the goal – just by the dive of Easthampton goalie Sam Barr and into the back of the net.

One minute later, Matt Gillis added his second to make it 3-0 Tigers. His third and final goal of the day came on a beautiful through ball from Brady Graham, which Gillis corralled to bury his hat trick and put the game well out of reach, 4-0.

“We knew they were going to come out firing and look to put the knockout punch on us the first five minutes, and they basically did,” Easthampton acting head coach Mike Lapan, who filled in for Andrew Lawrence on Friday, said. “It’s a great learning experience for the kids. We had a lot of kids who played in their first varsity game today, and it happened to be against the best team in the league. We’re gonna keep working.”

South Hadley pressured Easthampton the entire contest, and the ball was in the Eagles’ defensive zone for the majority of the game. The Tigers pounded shots in the direction of Barr time and time again, and more often than not, Barr came up big.

The senior captain kept Easthampton in the game for as long as he could.

“We had our fair share of shots, and we possessed the ball really well,” Gauthier said. “We got the ball to the spots we wanted to get them to, we just didn’t finish them.”

Barr recorded a shutout in the Eagles’ win over Wahconah to open the year earlier this week.

“He came up big in our 3-0 win at Wahconah, and if it weren’t for him today, this   could have been horrific,” Lapan said. “He’s the backbone. He’s a big kid, he’s agile and the big thing is, he’s one of our captains. We rely on him.”

Easthampton (1-1) travels to Westfield Tech on Monday afternoon, while South Hadley (2-0-1) heads up to South Deerfield to battle Frontier on Tuesday night.

Northampton 4, Chicopee Comp 1 — Four different goal scorers led the Blue Devils to a decisive victory over the Colts on Friday afternooon. Owen MacLachlin, Jasper Cantor, Sam Busone and Derek Rivers all found the back of the net, two coming in each half.

Will Senn-McNally tallied two assists while Minti Peterson added one. Salem Gregory made four saves in goal for Northampton in the win.

Frontier 6, Southwick 1 — Ian Paciorek poured in a hat trick, and the Redhawks rolled to another lopsided victory on Friday.

Frontier, which led 3-0 at halftime, also received goals from Will Reading, Gus Radner and Henry Pleasant. Max Millette, Carter Miller, Eric Larsson, Paciorek and Adrien Pazmandy added assists, and the goalkeeping duo of Jack Cusson and Grayson Bishop combined to make four saves.

Girls soccer

Amherst 1, Palmer 0 – Madeline Hockman continued her red-hot start to the season with her fifth goal in two games to lead the ‘Canes to a 2-0 start.

Beatrice Eggemeir logged her third assist of the season and Neena Chinappa made six saves in net.

Smith Voc 1, Franklin Tech 0 – Caitlin Willard scored the game’s lone goal, assisted by Monique Fredette. Goalie Maggie Lauder made a pair of saves.

Monson 3, Granby 1 – The Rams fell behind 3-1 at home in the first half and couldn’t muster a second-half comeback. Kalli White scored her second goal of the season in as many games and goalie Meredith Bartosz made six saves.

Smith Academy 4, Pioneer 0 – Caitlin Graves scored all four of Smith Academy’s goals, including a hat-trick in the first half. Piper Higuera added in three assists and Anna Scagel dished out a helper as well.

Belchertown 2, Ludlow 1 – The Orioles went up 2-0 in the first half and then held on behind a free kick goal from Alexa Karabetsos and a goal from McKenzie LePage, assisted by Isabel Moreau.

Goalie Jill DeBarge made seven saves. 

Hampshire 1, South Hadley 0 — An early Shayne Moynahan goal was the difference on Friday, as the Raiders went on to win a low-scoring affair with the Tigers. Libby Puttick assisted Moynihan’s tally.

Ella Cleary made a dozen saves in goal for Hampshire while Olivia Athas grabbed five for South Hadley.

Girls volleyball

Amherst 3, Belchertown 1 – The ‘Canes got past the Orioles in four sets, 25-22, 25-20, 13-25, 25-17.

Belchertown’s Gianna Picardi and Layla Liminski shared the team lead with seven kills and Vivian Ross contributed 22 assists.

Lenox 3, Easthampton 0 – The Eagles dropped their second match of the year on Friday, falling 25-11, 25-15, 25-2. Lidie Buttrick led Easthampton with four kills and Brooke Skowron and Summer Routhier each added five assists.

Field hockey

Belchertown 9, Palmer 0 — The Orioles dominated the Panthers on Friday, and did so by spreading the wealth around. Nine different Belchertown players recorded goals in the win, including Kina Roy (two), Molly Mazzaferro, Lila Roy, Edith Audette, Mya Philpott, Addi DiBona, Dori Keefe and Gianna Zenon.

Audette added four assists while Rachel Baltazar, DiBona, Zenon, and Samantha Letzeisen dished out dimes as well.

Frontier 3, Agawam 2 – Ashlie Galenski scored twice and Macy DeMaio added a goal and an assist to lead Frontier to a 2-0 start to the year. Kyra Richards made three saves in goal.

Amherst 3, Hampshire 0 — Jo Becker tallied a pair of goals and Zoey Candito added another to pace the ‘Canes in a shutout win on Friday.

Aria Haupt had one assist for Amherst.

Greenfield 11, Holyoke 1 – Ella Ramoth scored the Purple Knights’ lone goal on Friday.

Golf

Smith Vocational 203, Easthampton 207 — The Vikings turned in their first win in program history with a close win over the Eagles on Friday. Conor Braunschweig (46), Pat Gougeon (50), Patrick Dabrowski (52) and Alex Fournier (55) were the four Smith Voc scorers.

Easthampton’s Amelia Gruber was the match medalist with a 41, the only Eagle to break 50 on the day.

Late Thursday results

Boys soccer

 Hampshire 1, Monument Mountain 0 — Raiders senior captain Brendan Stevenson netted the lone goal in the second half to boost Hampshire to a 1-0 win over the Spartans on its home field un der the lights.

Colin Cahill assisted Stevenson on the goal, and Colin Holt added six saves in goal to earn the shutout. The Raiders improved to  2-0 on the season.

Northampton 12, Monson 0 — Northampton’s offense erupted in a huge win over the Mustangs to  open its season on Wednesday night. Sam Busone (three), Rylans Breen (two), Derek Rivers (two) Charlie Ames, Minty Peterson, Will Senn-McNally, Jasper Cantor and Max Stocker all scored for the hosts while Tate Norsen and Jasper Cantor each added a pair of assists.