NORTHAMPTON —Freshman Briana Heafey scored twice, as the No. 30 Northampton girls soccer team beat No. 35 Amherst Regional 2-1 on Thursday in the preliminary round of the Division 2 state tournament.
After a scoreless first half, Heafey conjured the opening tally from chaos in the 60th minute. Ava Springfield found her in a mess in the box, and Heafey slotted it into the net.
“Our first time touching the ball in the second half, I felt better about our team. We were passing way better, something’s coming,” Heafey said. “That was very chaotic. Our coach tells us score dirty goals, and I tried to score a dirty goal.”
Her second of the evening was much cleaner eight minutes later. Carolynn Skubiszewski served a perfect ball from the corner, and Heafey deflected it deftly off her head into the net.
“That was a beautiful ball by Scoob,” Heafey said. “Right place, right time.”
Amherst didn’t wilt with the deficit. Sophie Higham responded 30 seconds later for the Hurricanes with an expertly placed ball from outside the box.
“I think they just kept going,” Amherst coach Don Fraser said. “We changed things up and got more offensive and scored a goal very quickly after that.”
The tense final 11 minutes featured chances for both teams but no more goals.
Northampton advances to the Round of 32 and will face No. 3 Whitman-Hanson at 5 p.m. Saturday.
“I tried to tell them, ‘feel this,’ a playoff atmosphere is so different,” Northampton coach Vanessa Butynski said. “Now we’re going to be the away team but we need to bring that intensity and believe in ourselves.”
Division 4 first round
Wahconah 2, Easthampton 0 – Elena Iovieno and Olivia Gamberoni tallied for the No. 13 Warriors in a 2-0 win over No. 20 Easthampton in the Div. 4 Round of 32 on Thursday in Dalton.
Wahconah advanced to play the winner of Millbury and Blackstone Millville Regional High School.
Division 2 preliminary round
Northampton 3, Quincy 2 (OT) – After going into the half down 2-0 to No. 31 Quincy, No. 34 Northampton roared back to tie the game up with just six minutes to play and scored the winner in double overtime in the Division 2 preliminary round of the state tournament.
John Senn-Mcnally scored the ridiculous double-overtime winner with three minutes to play in the second extra frame, a blast from 30 yards out that rocketed into the far right corner. He also scored Northampton’s first goal eight minutes into the second half.
Brady McDonald netted the goal that sent the game to OT, tying the game up with six minutes left.
Keeper Alexander Caldanaro made seven saves in the win, and head coach CJ Holt also commended Finn Norsen and Connor Stiles for their solid play in the back to keep the game close.
Division 5 preliminary round
Mount Everett 3, Smith Vocational 2 – Rosco Palmer netted both goals for the Vikings, but Smith Vocational couldn’t slow Mount Everett in the opening round of the Division 5 state tournament. Race Drobiak made 12 saves in the loss.
Division 3 preliminary round
Norwell 1, Belchertown 0 – Eliza Rothstein made six saves for the 35th-seeded Orioles in the team’s loss in the Division 3 state tournament.
Maddie McDonald scored the lone goal for No. 30 Norwell, which will play No. 3 Pentucket in the Round of 32 on Sunday.