BELCHERTOWN — The Belchertown boys soccer team knew Tuesday night would be its last home game of the season. The Orioles made certain it would not be their last game of the season.
Facing Berkshire South champion Drury in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament quarterfinal, the Orioles pitched a masterful 9-0 shutout.
“It’s been an up-and-down season. We finished the season with three (straight) losses and really didn’t play well at all,” Belchertown coach Tony Almeida said.
The third-seeded Orioles (11-7-1) will play No. 2 Southwick (13-3-1) on Thursday at 7 p.m. at East Longmeadow in the semifinals. Southwick beat No. 7 Monument Mountain, 3-0, in its quarterfinal.
The Orioles used stifling defense to prevent the sixth-seeded Blue Devils (14-3-3) from getting a shot on goal in the first half, and made life easy for goalies Tanner Clark and Sean McCarthy.
Ben Laclair got the scoring started for the Orioles, knocking one home five minutes into the game. For the next 20 minutes, Belchertown controlled the ball and had many chances turned aside by Drury goalie Brian Christian.
Between the 25th to 28th minute of the first half, Belchertown scored three goals. Two came from senior Alec Morgado and one from Jarod Bolton, while Hayden Bennis assisted on two of these goals.
“We knew we had to come out strong,” Bennis said. “We had to come out and score fast and set the tone for the team.”
The Orioles led 4-0 at the break. In the second half, Almeida let his starters rest and turned to his younger players, who added five goals, including three with less 10 minutes remaining.
Bolton scored his second goal of the game, while other goals were scored by Alex Szarkowski, Sean O’Neil, Evan Walters-Zucco and Chris Ingram.
“It gave us an opportunity to play a lot of the young kids in the second half and they gave me a good look to see what’s coming next year,” Almeida said.
Belchertown’s defense will focus on Southwick senior Brandon Castor (16 goals, five assists) in the semifinal.
“Ever since we were little we played against Southwick, and Castor has always been a great striker,” Bennis said. “We just got to keep an eye on him and shut him down.”
Belchertown beat Southwick, 2-0, to begin the season.
“No doubt they’re a lot better than they were (at the start of the season),” Almeida said. “Hopefully we’ll be up to the task and it should be a good game.”