HADLEY — You could feel a goal coming for the Hopkins Academy girls soccer team throughout the first half of Tuesday’s contest against Pioneer.
The Golden Hawks dominated possession for the majority of the opening 40 minutes, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. That changed in the final minutes before the halftime whistle blew.
A bouncing ball in the Panthers’ box was deflected out to Hopkins’ Sadie Cyr. The sophomore corralled possession just inside the top of the box and blasted a shot that made its way into the bottom left corner of the goal, giving the Golden Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Hopkins added an insurance goal in the second half to come away with a 2-0 Pioneer League South victory.
“I just tried shooting it,” Cyr said. “I was up there in the box and every time I’m in there I go for a shot because coach tells us that’s where we score most of our goals. We’ve had a lot of games like that recently where we get too excited to score. We know we can score, we just get so excited and can’t get it in the back of the net.”
The win also assured the Golden Hawks (8-1-1) would finish with a .500 record, thus sewing up a spot in the postseason.
“We’re hitting our stride,” Hopkins coach Vincent Catania said. “We have a couple hard games coming up and hopefully we can keep that stride going into that and into the postseason. It’s great locking up a postseason spot today.”
Despite the loss, Pioneer coach Larry Poirier said he’s seen his team grow immensely throughout the season, which showed in holding a fierce Golden Hawk attack to just two goals. That, coupled with a 3-2 win over Frontier on Monday, has the Panthers feeling good.
“The top three teams in our league, the last time we played them we gave up three goals each time,” Poirier said. “We still haven’t scored on them but I’m seeing progress. Any team is beatable on any given day. I’m seeing things we didn’t see the first week or two. I’m seeing combination plays and the effort is always there.”
The first half ended with Hopkins holding a 7-0 shot advantage, and Cyr’s goal was the lone tally on the board. With play being in the Panther end for nearly the entire half, Catania was relieved to see one find the back of the net and have his team’s strong play show on the scoreboard.
“It’s the beautiful game,” Catania said. “It can be a game like that the whole time but one goal the other way is all it takes to sway the momentum. Getting the first one was a bit of a relief. I knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when.”
The Golden Hawks continued to dominate possession in the second half. Hopkins pressured the Panthers up front, not allowing them to advance the ball and put shots on goal.
Midway through the second half, Hopkins gave itself the two-goal cushion. The strike came off the foot of Helen Vissas, with the sophomore stealing the ball, driving up the middle and lofting a shot over Pioneer keeper Shaelyn Mullen’s head to make it a 2-0 contest.
Catania said he’s seen his team create shot opportunities the past few games and is looking for them to settle down and finish when given the opportunity.
“We had a lot of opportunities which has been common throughout our last few games,” Catania said. “We’re getting shots, we’re getting open but we’re getting very excited to have those opportunities which is why they haven’t been going in. They’re making those opportunities through their movement off the ball, which is the best it’s ever been.”
Mullen finished the game with 12 big saves for the Panthers. Pioneer was dealing with injuries throughout the afternoon, a problem as the team is already short on numbers.
“Our problems right now are with numbers and injuries,” Poirier said. “When you have injuries on top of low numbers, it is what is is. We’re doing what we can.”
The Panthers look to get back in the win column Thursday against Drury while Hopkins travels to Chicopee to take on Hampden Charter on Thursday.