GRAFTON — South Hadley took a two-goal lead midway through the first half against Holy Name Central Catholic on Tuesday, but the Tigers knew that alone wasn’t going to be enough in the state Division 3 semifinal round.
Five days prior, the Napoleons trailed Bromfield by two goals in the Central Massachusetts championship, but Holy Name scored three straight to win and advance.
“We knew (Holy Name) were a team that could come back,” South Hadley coach Rich Marjanski said.
The Napoleons pulled a goal back a minute later, but solid midfield defending and a goal from Reese Carey later in the half was enough to get the Tigers past Holy Name, 3-1, at Grafton High School.
The Tigers (21-0-1) move on to play Stoneham (20-03-0) in the state championship at Foley Stadium in Worcester on Saturday at 5 p.m.
South Hadley earned a couple of corners to start Tuesday’s game and created scoring opportunities, but couldn’t finish.
Paige Marjanski had the Tigers’ first good opportunity from open play with 31:08 to go in the first half. She settled the ball at the top of the penalty box and sent a shot with speed toward the net, but Holy Name goalkeeper Isabel Ayers made the stop.
South Hadley opened the scoring six minutes later. Teagan Gawron sent a ball into the box from the right side. Lindsay Marjanski got to it before Ayers could make the save and tapped it in to put the Tigers on the board.
Four minutes later, Maddie Doolittle received a pass from Sydney Mercier at the top of the box and chested it down to her foot. She sent a low shot inside the left post and past Ayers’ outstretched hand to make it 2-0. The Napoleons quickly took a timeout.
“We definitely wanted to score first,” Carey said. “Throughout the whole game it still felt like 0-0. We still had to work as a team and work hard.”
Before the kickoff after Doolittle’s goal, Holy Name players yelled to each other words of encouragement and reminded each other not to give up.
The Napoleons’ Hailey Houston didn’t play like she was ready to give up.
With 20:50 to go in the first half, the sophomore forward sent in a shot from the far sideline, about 30 yards out, and curled the ball inside the far post to get Holy Name on the board.
“It only takes (Houston) a few steps to get loose,” Rich Marjanski said. “She’s got a cannon for a shot. That goal was sick.”
Finding ways to neutralize Houston was one of the Tigers’ biggest objectives coming into the game. The sophomore forward came into Tuesday’s game leading the Napoleons with 24 goals.
“We put two on her at times and that wasn’t even enough,” Rich Marjanski said.
After a haphazard first 20 minutes, Houston’s goal seemed to settle the Napoleons into the game. Holy Name started to move the ball through the midfield with quick passes and kept South Hadley from getting out on offensive breaks.
Then came Carey’s goal.
With 8:20 to go in the first half, Carey received the ball at the top of the box from Elyse Manzi. She moved forward, weaved through two Holy Name center backs and placed a shot inside the left post past the outstretched hand of Ayers.
“I got the ball and didn’t see anyone stepping,” Carey said. “I was actually going to pass it, but Lindsay (Marjanski) just told me to go. No one was stepping so I kept going.”
Houston found ways to get good shots off in the second half. On a few occasions she came down the right wing and quickly cut back onto her left foot, but Tigers goalie Bridget Sears was able to make the stops.
Sears finished the game with nine saves.
“Bridget played huge,” Rich Marjanski said. “That is one of the things that I wanted from her that she did last year. She steps up in big games. It was great to see her do that today. She was there for every shot. Those balls were rockets that were coming in.”
Sears’ ability to handle the ball under pressure played a factor in keeping Houston and the rest of the Napoleons’ talented forwards at bay.
“(Coach) has me do a lot of drills with the whole team in practice to improve my footwork,” Sears said. “It helps the defense tremendously.”
Midway through the second half South Hadley switched to a more defensive 4-5-1 formation in hopes of controlling the ball in midfield.
“We played a lot more defensive,” Rich Marjanski said. “We were just playing to possess the ball there. We contained the outside a bit. The only thing that was going wrong for us in the second half was that we were giving away way too many corner kicks. We had to fix that up and have more support along the outside.”
South Hadley’s best opportunity of the second half came with 25:42 to go. Paige Marjanski sent in a hard shot from 30 yards out that was on target to creep in under the crossbar, but Ayers punched the ball up and over.
“(South Hadley) have been here. They know the pressure,” Holy Name coach Bill Manzello said. “Taking nothing away from South Hadley, we felt pressure. Nervous pressure, the first 10 minutes, 15 minutes. You could see it, we were just running around.”
The Tigers fell in the state championship last year to Norwell and lost to Sutton in the state semifinals in 2017.
“Hopefully the third time is the charm,” Rich Marjanski said.