SOUTH HADLEY – Despite a nifty 5-1 record heading into Tuesday’s contest against Hampshire Regional, the South Hadley girls soccer team knew there were still improvements to be made when it came to on-the-field demeanor.
“We’ve been lacking a lot of confidence on the ball. So we just talked about (that) it’s OK to make mistakes and move forward from them,” South Hadley forward Jordyn Balint said. “It just brought us together. We played a lot better together.”
Playing a lot better might be an understatement.
From the second it stepped on the field, South Hadley took control of the game, scoring in the first 30 seconds of the contest. Maggie Evans sent a perfect cross to Balint, who ripped the ball past Hampshire keeper Makena Rogalski to make it 1-0. The Tigers never looked back from there, finishing the contest with a 3-0 Kurty-Fielding victory, improving their record to 6-1 and extending their win streak to five games.
“We came out and set the tone for the game, and we kind of had them on their heels. So our first half was really good,” South Hadley head coach Rich Marjanski said. “Especially them being 4-0 and us being 4-0 in the (conference), it was a big league game.”
South Hadley netted all three of its goals within the first 20 minutes of regulations. After Balint’s tally got the Tigers on the board, they struck again about six minutes later when Emma Sanford raced up the field and received a pass from Lauren Marjanski. Sanford beat Rogalski for the second goal of the game in the sixth minute.
Marjanski netted a goal of her own in the 17th minute, finishing off a gorgeous cross from the right side of the pitch off the foot of Balint. At that point, Hampshire called a timeout to regroup and try to slow South Hadley’s momentum.
“I just think they came out strong and we might have been a little unfocused and they took advantage of it,” Hampshire head coach Steve Croft said. “They’re on their home field, they’re a quality team and quality program, and if you give them a little opening, they’re going to take it and capitalize.”
Despite the 3-0 deficit, Hampshire settled down and played a solid remainder of the game. Rogalski made eight saves total, and the Raiders back line kept South Hadley at bay. Despite their best efforts, they couldn’t get one past either Rylee Suchenicz or Drew Alley in the Tigers’ net. Suchenicz made four stops in 55 minutes of play, and Drew Alley came on and finished the game with four stops in 25 minutes.
“I like the fact that even though we were down goals, that’s been our thing is still competing. Other teams may, being down 3-0, they pack it in but… I don’t care what the score is, keep playing because you never know what’s gonna happen,” Croft said. “I think we’re having a good season. We’ve won some games and obviously today was kind of a shock. But sometimes it’s good, because this is the kind of competition we’re going to see later on in the season if we want to advance in tournaments.”
Just like Hampshire, South Hadley has its eyes on the end of the season as well. After making it to the Western Mass. finals last year, the Tigers want to be back there again, and this year they’re even stronger.
“That’s a big difference between us this year and last year is we’re a little deeper now, and some of these kids are getting good minutes. If they want playing time, they need to earn it when they’re in there,” Marjanski said. “It’s actually a good thing. It’s a little competitive for us, but it makes us a lot deeper.”