HATFIELD — The Smith Academy bench was in awe.
Players stood up, put their hands on their head and looked at each other.
“Geez. Sam is just going off,” one player said.
The Falcons’ Sam Dadmun had just scored his fifth goal of the game early in the second half.
Dadmun came into Monday’s Western Massachusetts Division 4 Boys Soccer Tournament game against Smith Vocational with two goals on the season.
He scored three in the first half and finished with five to lead the Falcons past the Vikings, 5-1, in first round action at Smith Academy.
“We have a balanced attack this year and have gotten goals in different ways,” Smith Academy coach Jason Duncan said. “(Sam) led the team in scoring last year. (Smith Vocational) gave him opportunities to score and he took advantage of it.”
Logan Graves (three), Nate Moynihan and Sam Dobson had assists for Smith Academy. Ryan Belina made seven saves.
Cole Boisvert scored for No. 11 Smith Vocational (10-7-2). Garvin Thomas had the assist. Race Drobiak made nine saves.
“Smith played a great game. They got some quality team plays, teamwork,” Vikings coach Max Weider said. “It was good exposure for our younger guys to get into the tournament, play some competitive soccer and look forward to next year.”
The sixth-seeded Falcons (10-5-4) move on to play No. 3 Westfield Tech (16-1-1) in the quarterfinals on Thursday at Bullens Field in Westfield at 4 p.m.
Smith Academy pressured the Vikings deep in their own end of the field early in the game. Riley Intrator played a pivotal role in forcing turnovers in the final third and created extra possessions for Smith Academy.
The Falcons’ opening goal came with 35 minutes to go in the first half. Graves got the ball at the top of the penalty box and dropped it off to Dadmun with a slicing pass. Dadmun settled the ball on the right side of the goal and kicked it inside the far post.
Graves and Intrator have led a freshman class that has been thrust onto to field due to injuries and illness and have played valuable minutes this season.
“They want to win,” Duncan said about the team’s freshmen. “They want to work hard. They do everything we ask them to do. They play wherever we ask them to play. … It’s a fun group to coach. They want to play hard and work hard. It’s been nice.”
Four minutes after his first goal, Dadmun scored again off another pass in the box from Graves to increase the Falcons’ lead.
Smith Vocational started to connect passes together and move up field midway through the opening half, but Smith Academy’s counterattack took advantage of open space on the back end.
Dadmun scored his third goal from the top of the box off a pass from Moynihan to open the game up with 23 minutes to go in the half.
Duncan believes that his team plays its best when all 11 players on the field are keeping the ball at their feet and moving up field with crisp passes.
Dadmun agrees.
“It’s really the passing,” he said. “Our freshmen are really stepping up this year. They play a big part of it. I give a lot of those goals to Logan (Graves). He really set me up.”
The Falcons added two more insurance goals from Dadmun midway through the second half to give Smith Academy a comfortable lead.
Smith Vocational scored with five minutes to go in regulation.
“As we got into the second half we were able to play a little more of our game,” Weider said. “We put one goal in.”
Thomas sent a shot from in close on goal, but Belina parried it with a diving punch. Boisvert ran into the box, corralled the ball and kicked it into the back of the net as Belina recovered.
“You have to be the first team on a loose ball in your box,” Duncan said. “You give up a rebound like that at the beginning of the game, it might be a different story. That gives a team momentum and hope. Luckily we were up five at that point so it didn’t really matter, but if you come out of the gate and give up a goal like that, then a team throws six defenders back there. It could be a whole different story.”
The Falcons lost in the sectional quarterfinals to Monson last season. As the team approaches another quarterfinal game, they just want to keep playing their brand of soccer.
“When we play how we should passing, instead of running the ball, we get a much better outcome,” Dadmun said.