BELCHERTOWN — The last time the Belchertown and Amherst field hockey teams met, the Orioles walked away with a 3-0 win — but weren’t entirely pleased with their performance. They knew that they hadn’t performed at their best.
In Friday’s Western Mass. Class B semifinals, top-seeded Belchertown came away much happier with its performance, cruising to a 5-0 win and securing a first-ever Western Mass. title-game berth.
“I think that we did a lot more passing, we were a lot more communicative,” Belchertown’s Abigail Olden said on her team’s improvement. “Last time we played [Amherst] we also had played three games on turf and didn’t have any practice on grass in between. So I think that was definitely a setback our last game, but this game we were definitely more together.”
Olden scored a hat trick in the first half of the game, with two of those goals assisted by Mya Philpott. Isabella Cebula scored the Orioles’ fourth goal and freshman Rachel Balthazar rounded out the scoring with an unassisted goal.
The No. 1 Orioles will face No. 2 East Longmeadow in the Class B final in a Halloween showdown on Monday at Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham (5 p.m.).
The last time that Belchertown faced off against the Spartans, the two teams played to a 0-0 draw. Belchertown was one of just two teams that East Longmeadow didn’t beat this season; Westfield was the only team to defeat them (a 3-0 win). Belchertown coach Lindsay Wright hopes that her team can hand them just their second defeat of the season in the title game.
“I am excited to see East Longmeadow again. We tied them…Westfield beat them, but no one else has,” Wright said. “So it’s a good opportunity. It’ll be a really good game for us to play to prepare for the state tournament.”
Wright has a deeper bench this year since the Orioles don’t have a junior varsity team, so she was able to rotate players in and out frequently to get everyone some playing time in the semifinal contest.
“I wanted everyone who doesn’t often get as much opportunity (to play),” Wright said. “A lot of them played in the game today and did a really good job.”
Amherst didn’t have that same luxury, playing with an even shorter bench than usual when senior Maria Konieczny was hit with the ball and sat out the remainder of the game. Most of the Hurricanes played the entirety of the game against Belchertown, a tilt that head coach Sarah Hafale Bugbee knew would be a difficult one.
“They knew today was going to be a fight. I think that we gave them a good game. We knew we could win, no one had their heads down,” Hafale Bugbee said. “We were ready to battle them today.”
Amherst kept the score close most of the contest; its defense was quick to clear out the zone. Zoey Candito had several strong clears for the Hurricanes, and Sophie Lindsey ran out the clock in the first half, preventing Belchertown from regaining control on a late corner opportunity. Goalie Mackenzie Schreyer was a wall in net, making 18 stops in the defeat.