SOUTH DEERFIELD — It’s always a battle when Frontier and Easthampton meet on the soccer pitch.
Wednesday’s rematch of the 2021 MIAA Div. 4 state championship game saw the visiting Eagles strike first, putting home a goal in the opening two minutes of action.
Frontier struck back with a pair of tallies before the half to take a 2-1 lead. It looked like that might be enough to get the job done, but the Eagles had other ideas, striking late to tie the game, 2-2. That score held until the final whistle in a Moriarty League contest.
The Redhawks won the first meeting between the two teams last month, 1-0.
“We’ve been talking about shooting and we finally shot today,” Easthampton coach Andrew Lawrence said. “We played well and they played well. They’re a good team. I would like to win but I’m not upset about a tie with them.”
For Frontier, the story of its season so far has been building leads but not being able to sustain them late, a problem that reared its head again Wednesday.
“We can’t finish games,” Redhawks coach Evan Horton said. “We just aren’t finishing. We’re set up to take care of teams. For whatever reason, we have lot of guys who can score but it’s just not happening. For awhile I thought things just weren’t falling our way. In the first half today we had some things fall our way. At some point you just have to be more technical and take care of things. We just didn’t do that.”
Easthampton (5-3-2, 4-2-1) capitalized on the weather conditions to score its first goal. The Eagles put a shot on frame that was saved by Frontier keeper Owen Babb. But with the rain pouring down, the ball slipped out of Babb’s hands and right onto the foot of Easthampton’s Jack Belcher-Timme, who tapped it in to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead in just the second minute.
“I wasn’t expecting to score that early,” Lawrence said. “The weather played into that. I expected it to be a battle. They beat us 1-0 last time and it was close all the way through. This was pretty much how I expected it to play out. I would have liked for us to have capitalized on going up early but they’re a good team and are well coached.”
Following the early strike, it was all Redhawks (4-1-3, 4-0-2) for the remainder of the first half. After a pair of chances, Frontier got that goal back in the 14th minute. The Redhawks put the ball in the box, but like with Babb, Easthampton keeper Guiseppe DeNucci-Simms was unable to corral it in the wet conditions and it bounced right to Frontier’s Aidan Valderrama, who knocked in it to knot the score.
Five minutes later, Frontier’s Brady Burch took matters into his own hands. The senior got the ball at midfield, drove past a few defenders into the Easthampton box and fired a shot that found its way to the back of the net, giving Frontier a 2-1 lead. The Redhawks continued to create chances throughout the remainder of the half but were unable to add to their lead.
“The fight we showed to get back in the game and to dominate the chances in the first half was exactly what I wanted us to do,” Horton said. “I thought they did a great job getting back in the game.”
Both teams had chances to score in the second half. Burch nearly put his second goal of the outing in on a corner, but his header dinged off the crossbar. Easthampton’s Ethan Marowitz had a chance on a free kick just outside the box a few minutes later, but Babb rose up and tapped the ball over the goal to prevent the Eagles from tying the game.
The Eagles capitalized on a golden chance in the 70th minute. Mateo Navarro got the ball on a break, weaved his way through a trio of Frontier defenders to get in the box and sent a pass to Finn Garvey. The sophomore, who had a head of steam, blasted a shot that got past Babb, tying the game 2-2.
Lawrence felt it was the energy brought from his right back, Joe Boyer, that provided Easthampton with the energy needed to get back into the game.
“It felt like we were building up to something,” Lawrence said. “It started with our right back [Joe Boyer]’s energy. We had to reel him back a bit but his energy was so high and it got everyone going. He had a lot of energy that built it up for the rest of the team slowly. I just wanted to see it earlier.”
Horton felt the visiting Eagles raised their level of play in the second half, and with the talent level the defending state champs bring, turning off for just a second can lead to a goal.
“We talked about not changing formation,” Horton said. “We knew they have some talented guys up top and I wanted to help us cover. I thought we did a good job of that for the first 20 minutes and for whatever reason we lost our shape and lost our midfield.
“Easthampton got their legs under them in the second half,” he continued. “Their touches were better and their passes were better than they were in the first half. They worked to improve their game and did a really good job of disorganizing us and that led to their chances. Their goal was just being disorganized. All the credit to them. Their play, especially the last 20 minutes, made it hard for us. That’s what led to us giving up a goal.”
Frontier is back in action Friday, hosting Wahconah at Herlihy Field in Whately. Easthamton takes on Lenox at Nonotuck Park Friday.