SPRINGFIELD — Smith Academy’s Logan Graves had the chance of a lifetime in the second half of the Western Mass. Class D boys soccer championship game on Sunday and made sure to capitalize on it.
The No. 3 Falcons were tied 1-1 with eighth-seeded Mt. Everett when Smith Academy’s Riley Intrator was fouled just outside the box with 23 minutes, 45 seconds to play in regulation.
The ball was placed dead center and Graves went to take the kick. The initial play called for a pass, but Graves saw an opening, bent a shot past the wall and into the net to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles were unable to find the equalizer late, as Smith Academy walked away with the Class D championship thanks to a 2-1 final in a game played at Pope Francis High School.
“We were calling out a play which, with that positioning, we were going to run it,” Graves said. “I didn’t think the spacing was there. I saw a little opening and curved it past the wall. I did something similar against Hopkins [in the semifinals] so I knew what to do. It felt great. I knew it was going in the second I shot it. They have a great keeper who played great so I wasn’t 100 percent sure it was going in, but I knew it had a chance.”
Smith Academy (12-5-2) worked toward winning a Western Mass. title all season. Coach Jason Duncan said he was proud of the way his team fought throughout the season to reach that goal.
“I told these guys before the season that our goal is to be better at the end than the beginning,” Duncan said. “We are. If you’re going to do all the hard work, you might as well make it pay off. We worked hard all season and it paid off.”
After the Falcons took the second half lead, Mt. Everett (2-15-2) came with its strongest push of the game. The Eagles earned multiple late corners but were unable to capitalize.
The best chance to tie came with 10 minutes to play, but Michael Ullrich’s shot went just over the crossbar. Ullrich had another drive in the closing minutes from the outer edge of the box, but Smith Academy goalie Ryan Belina was there to make his sixth save of the contest.
“We struggled to create offensively and break down their back line,” Mt. Everett coach Joe McSpiritt said. “Their goalie made a couple of saves. We couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”
After holding off Hopkins Academy throughout the second half of the semifinals last week, the Falcons were prepared for the Eagles’ push on Sunday.
Intrator had a chance to make it 3-1 with 3:50 showing on the clock, but Mt. Everett keeper Michael Devoti made his sixth save of the game to keep his squad alive.
“We were a pass away in the second half,” Duncan said. “They had a flurry there late where they put some pressure on us. We weathered that Thursday against Hopkins for a longer time. We’ve been there before and knew how to take the punches and keep playing.”
The opening minutes saw both teams capitalize on scoring chances.
Just four minutes after the opening whistle, Intrator sent a pass across the box to Ben Hudzik, and the sophomore found the back of the net to give Smith Academy an early 1-0 advantage.
Intrator had a chance to make it 2-0 one minute later after getting behind the Eagle defense on a breakaway, but Devoti came up with a big save. Mt. Everett swiftly moved the ball up field where Ullrich swung a pass into the box to Diego Cruz, who finished to tie the game 1-1 with 33:41 to play in the first half.
The goal showed the Eagles weren’t going to give up after the early Falcons goal.
“We played hard,” McSpiritt said. “We gave up the early goal but fought back. I thought we played hard throughout the whole game, we just couldn’t finish it out.”
Duncan was pleased with how his team responded after Mt. Everett tied the game.
“Getting the scoring started was good,” Duncan said. “I would have preferred not to have given up a quick goal after it. We weathered it, though. We didn’t break and it didn’t kill us. We haven’t lost a game all year when we’ve scored two goals and we were able to score two goals.”
Smith Academy now awaits its opponent in the MIAA Div. 5 state tournament. The Falcons were the No. 25 seed in the most recent rankings, though official seeds are expected to be announced on Tuesday.