HATFIELD – You could see the tears in Smith Academy head coach Judy Strong’s eyes after the final horn sounded on the field Wednesday afternoon.
Despite an intensely close matchup between No. 32 Smith Academy and No. 33 Quabbin in the preliminary round of the MIAA Division 3 state tournament, Quabbin converted one more of their opportunities and walked away with the 2-1 win.
Quabbin will play at top-seeded Sandwich in the Round of 32 on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Senior Makena Valentine picked up the Falcons’ lone goal, and junior netminder Hadley Szynal made eight saves in the loss. Opposing netminder Riley Bassett made three saves for Quabbin.
“I think our effort, I couldn't ask for any more. What I felt Quabbin had was just a few more players that had a little bit better stick skills to maneuver around us,” said Strong. “At the end of the day, I do think we were pretty equal. They made the most of their opportunities. We missed a couple of opportunities. To come out and score first was awesome for us, and it did set the tone, but they kept fighting back.”
It was a tough loss for a group of seniors that has been together since their early days in the sport, building up to an opportunity for the upperclassmen to put into practice all they’ve learned on one of the biggest stages.
“I've been with these girls – most of us have been together since we were in elementary school. So it's sad to know that our season's over together,” Valentine said. “We worked so well on the field together… I have seen so much improvement with everybody. It's unreal how how far everybody's come, and just as a team in general.”
It was Valentine who struck first in the match, after what appeared to be an early Quabbin goal was waved off by the officials. Valentine was able to convert off of a strong pass by fellow senior Amanda Novak on a corner attempt.
“(Novak) inserted the ball to me at the top of the circle and I just received the ball – it was such a nice ball from her, it was perfectly flat on the ground, right to my stick,” Valentine said. “I knew right as I hit it, I knew it was going right where it should be, right in that close corner of the goal.”
Valentine’s goal, scored with just under eight minutes left to play in the first quarter, stood for about five minutes before Quabbin's Makenzie Casey tied it up late in the opening quarter. The Panthers struck again on their first corner opportunity in the second, this one from Michelle Tremblay, and that score stood for the rest of the match.
It wasn’t the end of the season that the Falcons wanted, but Strong was quick to point out that the team, which finished 14-3-1 in regular season and Western Mass. play, was a strong side all year. The Falcons also competed well despite moving up from Division 4 to 3 for the postseason run.
“We didn't win a championship, but we upset Frontier as the No. 1 seed, we go to the Western Mass. finals, we’re playing in the first ever state tournament, and we're playing in Division 3 of the state tournament versus Division 4,” Strong said. “I can't be prouder of the leadership that the seniors have brought from day one to today that allowed us to play at any level we were asked to play at. I think that sums up their talent, their work ethic, their competitiveness, and what they brought to this program. They've raised the bar, and now it's going to take a few years to rebuild. The expectations won't go down. We just have to, you know, get it back up to that level that they've created.”
With a solid youth pipeline in place that Strong was the driving force to implement, there should be a lot of strong players who will eventually rebuild the Falcons team into a formidable threat. It was also a meaningful full-circle moment as the prominent alumna reflected on her decision to take the Smith Academy coaching position this year.
“I grew up in Hatfield, and I still live in Hatfield. I’ve worked with some of the girls in the past, like during COVID when they didn't get to play, and then when the [coaching] position opened, you know, they're like, ‘Come on, coach!’” Strong said. “It was the right thing to do. I could never turn the opportunity down to coach them for a couple months at a time. And it's a win-win for everybody.”