HOLYOKE — The streak of sustained tournament success continued for the Frontier Regional field hockey team Monday night.
The Red Hawks advanced to the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament title game for the eighth consecutive year, dispatching No. 2 Southwick, 5-0, in the semifinals at the Roberts Sports Complex at Holyoke High School.
Third-seeded Frontier (12-5-3) will look to capture the program’s first sectional crown since 2015, when it plays for the title Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at East Longmeadow High School.
“It boils down to the girls that have come through the program,” Frontier coach Missy Mahar said of her team’s eighth trip to the finals. “It’s really a credit to the players, they’re the ones who go out there and year after year have been successful.”
The Red Hawks got stronger as the night unfolded, overcoming a shaky first half to dominate after intermission. Alyson Barnes finished with a second-half hat trick, and Lily Spencer added another to help jumpstart a Frontier offense that clung to a 1-0 advantage at intermission.
“It was a matter of getting into the flow of the game,” Mahar said. “We just had to settle down. They were playing nervous and a little panicked, to be honest. They just had to execute the way they have all season and we finally capitalized in the second half.”
It was the first hat trick of the season for Barnes.
“It feels great,” Barnes said. “We’re all so excited to get back (to the finals) because a lot of people thought we weren’t supposed to be here at the beginning of the season.”
After dealing with some persistent early pressure from the Rams in the first 10 minutes, Mahar called timeout to settle her team.
“We just talked about how we had to get our act together,” Barnes said.
Frontier got that all-important first tally just moments later. With 13:01 remaining, Olivia Vecellio (four points) weaved through traffic and found space to get off a blast about 10 yards away from the Southwick goal. Her rocket, the first shot by either team, found the back of the net to give the Hawks a 1-0 advantage. It was Vecellio’s 20th goal of the season.
With momentum sitting there for either team to snatch after halftime, Frontier struck for a huge marker just 2:49 into the second frame. The play began with another Vecellio bullet, this time from what looked to be an impossible angle to the near post guarded by Southwick goalkeeper Clare Stratton. Barnes was there for the deflection, and tipped it just inside the post to put the Hawks in control with a 2-0 advantage.
“Getting goals always helps settle everyone,” Barnes said.
That strike was just the beginning, as Spencer made it 3-0 when she finished off a perfect passing combination with 10:32 remaining. Barnes got it going, sliding the ball across to Emily DeMaio, who fed Spencer in front. The junior did the rest, sweeping the ball into the open net.
“Once they saw we were able to score, it was, ‘Let’s do this,’” Mahar said. “We saw some emotion finally.”
Barnes made it 4-0 just 3:13 later, finishing off a feed from Vecellio, and she capped the hat trick less than two minutes later on another assist from Vecellio, her third helper.
The way the Red Hawks finished the game was in stark contrast to how things began. It was all Rams early, as the Bi-County League champions earned three corners in the first 10 minutes with the field heavily slanted toward Frontier’s cage.
“Credit to Southwick,” Mahar said. “They came out and were relentless right off the bat. It was huge to keep them off the board. Our corner defense stepped up.”
It was the first meeting between Frontier and Southwick (16-3-1) since the 2016 season-opener. Frontier also beat Southwick in the 2014 championship game.
Frontier held Southwick without a shot in the second half after putting just one on goalkeeper Skyla Burniske in the first half. The Hawks finished with seven shots in the second half, scoring on four of them. The Rams wound up with a 7-4 edge in corners, though six of the seven came before halftime.
The shutout was Frontier’s fourth in a row and 11th on the season. The Hawks haven’t allowed a goal since a 3-0 loss to Greenfield on Oct. 19.