CHICOPEE – The late-game surge was not enough as the Amherst Regional girls soccer team fell to Chicopee Comprehensive, 3-1, under the Saturday night lights.
With the loss, Amherst has been eliminated in the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament first round for the fourth time in as many years.
“We played good soccer, we just didn’t play two forty minutes of it,” said Amherst coach Lauren Moscater. “We didn’t win the 50/50 and they were running out everything and we kind of sat and watched. When you sit in you get goals scored on you.”
Chicopee Comp opened the scoring early in first half with a goal by forward Arriana Hasiuk. Amherst goalkeeper Reilly Lepak tipped the shot, but the ball bounced over her, into the back of the net.
Lepak was injured following another goal, this time by forward Juilianna Beaulieu. She was carried off the field and did not return to the game. The Colts increased their lead to three with a goal by forward Haley Tracy.
“They were coming to the ball,” said senior forward Sage DiChiara. “We just weren’t as much. I think overall it’s relatively clean game.”
Hurricanes midfielder Emma Robson scored off a free kick by defender Anaviah Oliver-Clemons late in the first half, which sparked the offense, but the momentum did not carry into the second half.
“I think definitely we could of come out and won it,” said DiChiara. “I think we really let ourselves down to be honest. I think definitely the second half we’re fighting a lot harder and playing a lot better soccer, but in the end, the first 20 minutes of the first half really got us in a hole.”
As the second half dwindled down, Amherst pushed to get a second goal, but the Colts’ defense stood strong and kept the scoring chances to a minimum.
“I didn’t think much of their defense,” said Moscater. “We didn’t do a good job of playing through their back line. We didn’t pass enough in the final third.”
Despite her best efforts, DiChiara, Amherst’s leading scorer, was kept off the score sheet by Comp’s defense.
“We’ve been kind of dealing with that all season, just coming out” slow, said DiChiara. “We let one in and then we can’t come back from it. We’ve been kind of struggling with that all season and for some reason can’t figure out how not to do that.”
It was the final game for eight seniors: Madison Flueckiger, Kelly Ford, Lada Kyasyuk, Natayja Lambert-Mergendahl, Shira Yeskel-Mednick, Robson, DiChiara and Butler.
“It would have been really nice for the last year to make it farther,” said DiChiara. “Freshman year was our first year making it back to the postseason for the first time in 10 years. But we haven’t seemed to be able to figure out how get past the first round.”
The Hurricanes were optimistic about next season. The adjustments to the roster will be a challenge, but Moscater believes their past experiences will make the team stronger in a push to return to the playoffs.
“It’s going to be a hard season to come out of,” said Moscater. “We’re losing a lot of talent, a lot of great players. They’ll definitely be missed next year, but we’ll be back and we’ll be strong.”