WESTFIELD — Much like their quarterfinal game against Pope Francis earlier this week, the Belchertown boys soccer team got off to a slow start against Easthampton on Wednesday.
Ultimately, going down 1-0 into the half lit a fire under the top-seeded Orioles, and they came roaring back in the second half, scoring three goals to earn a 3-1 win and punch their ticket to the Western Mass. Class B final this Saturday.
Carter Daughdrill scored the lone goal for the Eagles, while Jack Holt, Hunter LePage, and Nathaniel Oldenburg tallied for the Orioles. Easthampton goaltender Griffin Foskitt made seven saves in the loss.
“Every time we step onto the field, I guess it seems that we expect to win,” said Holt said. “And it catches us off guard, and going down at half is just a huge wakeup call to us.”
In a game where emotions ran high for both teams, it was the fifth-seeded Eagles who struck first. Daughdrill got a perfectly placed feed from Carter Hebert and sent it past Belchertown goaltender Jacob Chaisson around the 20th minute.
“We knew they were going to be a quick team with good finesse, and we just knew we had to try to contain and play more defensive-minded and break out like we did,” said Easthampton head coach Andrew Lawrence on his team’s fast start. “But we just kind of got tired as the game went on.”
Though Belchertown head coach Zach Siano knows that endurance is one of his team’s strengths, it didn’t lessen any of the stress going into halftime down a goal.
“We generally try to burn teams down, and we were able to do so in the second 40 [minutes] there, but they’re giving me a handful of grays by not being able to finish some early ones,” said Siano. “They’re playing with fire, because it certainly can catch up with them at some point… but this has kind of been our MO, it’s tight at the half, these guys tend to wake up in the second half. I just wish they could figure that out a little earlier on.”
Though it took them a while, the Orioles did figure out their offense, and with a dramatic flair as well – after Holt scored the team’s first goal off an assist from Joseph Bianco, LePage headed in a corner kick from Shay O’Neil about 60 seconds later to give Belchertown a 2-1 lead. They added an additional insurance goal shortly after, this one from Oldenburg and assisted by Kiernan Corish.
Tensions were running high at the end, and Lawrence noted that it was tough for his team to stay focused on playing cohesively as the clock ticked down, contributing to their struggles in the latter frame.
“I felt that toward the end that didn’t happen, and we might have been able to sneak in another goal if we stayed together as a team,” said Lawrence. “But I get that a high pressure game against a team like this, it’s tough to keep your composure all the time.”
The Orioles will play in the Class B championship on Saturday against No. 2 Hampshire, which defeated Monument Mountain in Wednesday’s other semifinal. Location and time is still to be determined.
Though he didn’t show up on the scoresheet Wednesday, Siano was impressed by the play of senior Joe Bianco, a versatile player who can slot in anywhere in the lineup. He praised the upperclassman’s play as one of the key reasons the Orioles were able to complete their second comeback win in three days.
“Joe Bianco in the midfield really worked hard in the second 40 minutes, created a handful of chances. We put him up at forward for a bit there, but I’ll move Joe all over the field, he’s a Swiss Army knife of sorts,” said Siano. “He certainly brought it the second 40 minutes, and that might be a part of me kind of calling him out at halftime, because I think he’s one of the most skilled players in the region, and he really stepped it up the second 40 there.”
Belchertown is used to winning titles – the team is currently the two-time defending Western Mass. champions, as well as the defending state champs. But that doesn’t mean the club is letting the pressure get to them. The Orioles fully believe that they have the ability to repeat at both levels.
“I think it’s deserved,” said Holt on if he feels any pressure going into Saturday’s game. “I don’t think there’s much pressure besides defending our title. Every game that we lose is going to be an upset.”