WHATELY — It wasn’t the ending the Frontier Regional boys soccer team imagined.
Following an 11-8-1 campaign that saw the Red Hawks make it to the 2018 Western Massachusetts Division 3 finals, expectations were high for a team that returned 12 seniors.
Instead, the Red Hawks failed to make the tournament and closed its season with a 0-0 tie with Monson on Thursday.
The game was called at halftime due to rain and slippery field conditions, with the Mustangs not wanting to risk injury as they had already qualified for the tournament.
“We were actually playing some good soccer late in the first half,” Frontier coach Evan Horton said. “I thought we were going to put one in. Some of my younger guys were playing good, so more playing time for them would have been great. I’m not here to ruin someone’s tournament, though. I think they have a chance to go pretty far. If we were in their position, I would have wanted it to go the same way.”
The draw marks a positive end for the Red Hawks (5-9-3).
On Monday, Frontier was officially eliminated from the tournament after a 4-0 loss to Mount Greylock. All four goals came in the second half, including two on penalty kicks within a minute of each other.
On Wednesday, Frontier lost 4-1 to Northampton.
“We didn’t start off great” against Monson, Horton said. “We had the same mentality as yesterday which wasn’t great. I told the players to try to finish it the right way and there was a good response to that. Definitely positives, it’s hard to have a lot of positives at this point in the season.”
The Mustangs finished with a 9-3 shot advantage, with Nick Jarvis coming away with five saves in goal for Frontier.
The Red Hawks thought they scored the game’s first goal toward the end of the first half, as Dwight Balk put the ball in the back of the net, but it was called off as the referee ruled he had kicked it out of the keeper’s hands.