AMHERST — Esat Cayan chased his first varsity goal until it found the back of the net.
The Belchertown boys soccer sophomore left the bench midway through the second half Wednesday. at Amherst after the Orioles earned a corner kick.
Nick Adzima lofted the ball into the Amherst penalty box, where it eluded both lines and bounced toward the Hurricanes net. Amherst keeper Yahsiel DeviDalomba and Belchertown’s Joseph Yoon collided as they lunged at the same time, DeviDalomba trying to push the ball away and Yoon attempting a back heel flick.
It trickled to Cayan, charging the goal. He kicked it the same time as Amherst’s Patrick Staudenmayer, and it bounced to Cayan’s left foot for a sweeping finish into the open net.
“Something was inside me, and I had to unleash it,” Cayan said. “I put everything into that goal.”
Yoon picked up his first varsity point on the assist of what became the game-winner in a 1-0 Belchertown victory. Not much else separated the rivals in their season opener.
Belchertown (1-0, 1-0 Smith) had a goal disallowed in the 30th minute, and both teams hit the crossbar in the second half.
“It’s always a battle coming out here against one of the premier programs in the state,” Belchertown coach Zach Siano said. “These guys think they have to score these these world-class goals, these premier goals, when in reality, this is high school soccer. You’ve just got to put the thing on frame and hope for the best.”
Amherst (0-1, 0-1 Smith) created its best opportunities on the counter attack but couldn’t finish with the decisive touch.
“We just want to get the ball as forward as possible as quickly as possible,” Amherst coach Matt Travis said. “We have a lot of pace going forward, so we want to utilize those players in the attacking third.”
Jack Mandeville kept a clean sheet with seven saves.
“There were a lot of shots he made look really easy, balls skipping in that he’s able to get on top of, taking his time burning some clock for us, which is something I think goes unnoticed,” Siano said.
Hampshire 3, Northampton 2 – Deadlocked 1-1 at the half, Hampshire’s Aidan Miklasiewicz took fate into his own hands, notching a hat trick and propelling the Raiders to a 3-1 win over Northampton.
Three different players assisted on each of Miklasiewicz’s goals, with Owen Millay, Mike Thibault and Tim Slate picking up an assist each. Liam Pond made four saves for Hampshire in goal. Northampton’s keeper Koa Klose stopped five shots in the loss.
Franklin Tech 8, Smith Vocational 3 – Cam Rosco scored twice and Cameron Ball tallied one goal in Smith Voc’s loss to Franklin Tech. The defeat dropped Smith Voc to 0-1 in Tri-County conference play.
Gateway 4, Putnam 2 – Aaron Renaud netted a hat trick for the Gators en route to a victory against Putnam in their first Bi-County conference matchup.
Sean Kingsley scored the other tally for Gateway while Dawson Jackman assisted on two of the goals.
Hampshire 2, Agawam 1 – Maisie Bowler scored the game-winning goal and added an assist in Hampshire’s opening win against Agawam on Wednesday.
Ella Forest scored the Raiders other goal in the victory.
Frontier 7, Turners Falls 0 — Rebecca Wallace-West had herself a day for the Redhawks, scoring a hat trick in Frontier’s independent win over the Thunder in Turners on Wednesday.
Stella Heflin, Lila Roche, Rowan Reilly and Ashlie Galenski also found the back of the cage for Frontier.
Mt. Greylock 3, Belchertown 0 – The Orioles couldn’t keep pace with Mount Greylock, dropping straight sets (25-18, 25-15, 25-6) on Wednesday.
Ava Shea and Paige Magner finished with three kills apiece for Belchertown in the loss.
Smith Vocational 3, John J. Duggan 0 – Smith Voc won three straight matches against John J. Duggan on Wednesday evening, 25-13, 25-21, 25-17.
Heidymar Diaz led the team with nine aces and added two kills. Jaycee Beaulieu picked up five kills, three blocks and a pair of aces and Kora Kelly had four kills in the win.
Frontier 3, Minnechaug 1 – Outside hitter Caroline Deane rattled off 16 kills and six aces in a Frontier’s 3-1 win against Minnechaug. Frontier won the first two sets 25-19 and 25-7, and though Minnechaug took the third set 25-17, the Redhawks closed out the win in the fourth set 25-11.
Setter Sydney Scanlon tossed up 35 assists and had nine digs. Eve Dougan contributed to the offense and defense with 13 kills and 12 digs, and Brooke Davis paced the back court with 13 digs.
Greenfield 18 1/2, Easthampton 5 1/2 – Greenfield picked up a win on their home course on Wednesday afternoon.
Greenfield’s No. 2 Matt Lavoine shot the low score of the afternoon, scoring 42 and defeating Easthampton’s Connor Perreault 3-1.
Easthampton’s Tanner Kmetz (44) was the lone Eagle to win his match, defeating Dylan Archer (46) 3-1 in the No. 1 match.
Belchertown 19 ½, Amherst 4 ½ – The Orioles earned a dominant win over the ‘Canes on Wednesday, led by No. 1 golfer Riley Breen, who defeated Amherst’s Piet Hartman 2 ½ – 1 ½.
Amherst’s lone match winner was Ben Scott, who bested Henry Poissant 3-1. Belchertown’s Michael Murray, Brady Perkins, Jared Haynes and Tyler McDonald all won their matches 4-0.
Palmer 13, Frontier 11 – The Redhawks dropped a heartbreaker to Palmer on Wednesday.
The two teams split their matches, winning three apiece, though Palmer had the edge in points. Frontier’s Alex Gochinski bested Lily White 3-1, Cam Skiffington defeatedTyler Labonte 2 ½ – 1 ½ and Marcus Larsson won against Hannah Hoang 3-1.
Field hockey
Agawam 5, South Hadley 1 – Ashley Scott scored the Tigers lone goal at home. Lily Provost assisted on the play.
Hampshire 15, Greenfield 50; Hampshire 15, Westfield Tech 47 – The Hampshire boy’s put out a statement win on Tuesday at Highland Park, finishing 1-5 against both Greenfield and Westfield Tech for a perfect score in the three-team meet.
Gavin DeFonte won the meet, crossing the line in 19:15, followed closely by second-place Dillon Neven (19:40) and Tom Cahill (19:58). Nick Elias-Gillette (20:14) and Spencer Reese (20:39) rounded out the scoring for the Raiders.
Frontier 26, PVCICS 29; Frontier 15, St. Mary’s 50; Frontier 21, Granby 35 – The Frontier boy’s cross-country team swept PVCICS, St. Mary’s and Granby, spurred on by freshman Luke Howard.
Howard won the overall race, speeding to a 15:51 time on the 2.75 mile course. PVCICS made it a close duel between the two teams thanks to two top-five finishes from second-place Kyan Frantz (16:13) and fourth-place Grafton Tolopko (16:37). Frontier’s depth proved the deciding factor; four of its five scoring runners placed in the top 10. Evan Hedlund (16:28), Amory Maxey (17:04) and Erich Brown (17:31) all placed in the top 10 for the Redhawks.
Granby’s Nathan Hutchison placed fifth for the Rams overall, crossing the finish line in 16:38.
Holyoke at SICS – Though both Holyoke and SICS only had three runners apiece and couldn’t formally score, Elijah Quinn ran a stellar race for the Purple Knights, finishing the 5k course at Ashley Reservoir in 18:54.
Holyoke’s two other runners placed second and third, with Pablo Tapion (19:54) and Gavin Sullivan (22:57) also finishing for Holyoke.
Frontier 16, PVCICS 47; Frontier 15, St. Mary’s 50; Frontier 15, Granby 50 – The Frontier girl’s cross-country team cruised to an early victory at a four-team meet on Wednesday afternoon.
Frontier’s Abigail Howard and Leah Gump finished seconds apart in first and second place, respectively; Howard crossed the finish in 18:45 just ahead of Gump, who finished in 18:47 on the 2.75-mile course.
Two other Frontier runners placed in the top five for the victors – senior Bianca Puera placed third (19:31) and sophomore Sasha Malo took fourth (20:10).
PVCICS top performer was Sarah Fardal, who ran the course in 20:20.
Hampshire 16, Westfield Tech 46 – The Hampshire girls were one point shy of a perfect score against Westfield Tech, running to victory with relative ease.
Ella Masenior (23:42) and Kathleen Barry (24:37) placed first and second, respectively, for the Raiders. Audrey Perrone (24:56), Keegan Butler (25:40) and Anna Dunlap (26:30) were the final three scorers for Hampshire.
Holyoke 21, SICS 34 – Last year, the Holyoke girls cross-country team had just two runners. This year, the Purple Knights earned a win in their first meet of the season against SICS.
Kya Donnelly won the meet with a time of 28:21, followed by third-place Aleahny Negron (31:55) and Kiara Perez (32:05) for Holyoke.