NORTHAMPTON — The Belchertown girls soccer team had been slipping over the past week or two. After winning four of their first five to start the year, the Orioles have since dropped three of their last four.
Monday night was exactly the kind of performance that head coach Kyle Thibeault was hoping for, as the Orioles took a two-goal lead into halftime and added two more scores in the second half to defeat Northampton 4-1 at David Wright Stadium.
“I thought we came out and did what we needed to do,” Thibeault said. “We worked the ball around, got some people in different positions to see how we could do. We can generate our offense kinda when we want to and when we’re clicking on all cylinders…we just need to finish more opportunities. We had a couple that we should’ve buried that the [Northampton] keeper either made a save or we misplayed. But we haven’t been playing that well, so this is the kind of game we needed to start turning it around.”
Four different players were responsible for the four Belchertown goals in the win. Junior Kyla Giroux got the scoring started with just under 15 minutes remaining in the half when Northampton keeper Annalise Oravec’s clearance attempt ricocheted off Giroux and rolled into the empty net behind Oravec.
Mia Corish added a goal of her own late in the half on a rebound to send the Orioles into the break up 2-0.
Thibeault said he knows having several different weapons on offense bodes well for his team as the season progresses.
“We have quite a bit of depth at different positions, especially midfield and forward,” Thibeault said. “We have a lot of players that can finish and bury a ball. Every year it’s always a battle in our league to score goals, but we always have a good problem in the sense that we have multiple girls who can score throughout the season. We don’t rely on just one player to score goals for us. We spread everything out and that tends to work well for us.”
The Blue Devils came out like a different team in the second half. They began controlling possession more and created several scoring opportunities inside the box, both of which they failed to do for the majority of the first frame. Northampton’s midfielders found lanes for through balls, and everybody collectively played 50/50 balls more aggressively, much to the pleasure of head coach Vanessa Butynski.
“We just came to play in that second half. Sometimes it can be hard when you’re down 2-0, it can go either way,” Butynski said. “But regardless of the score, I’m proud of what they put out in that second half, for sure. We just talked about playing our game. We started letting our speed and our skills take over more.”
Belchertown’s Morghan Litz added a fantastic goal from well outside the 18-yard box with 4:42 left in the game to go up 3-0, but Northampton quickly responded with a highlight-reel goal of its own. With just under five minutes remaining in the game, Blue Devils sophomore Margaux Galvin took a corner kick and booted it perfectly in the middle of the box. Junior captain Teagan McDonald timed her kick beautifully, as she connected with Galvin’s corner in mid-air and blasted it by Orioles keeper Michaela Dubey. McDonald’s volley goal was ripped, and can actually be credited to some defensive clearing drills Butynski has been using in practice.
“We’ve been working on the opposite side of that, the urgency of getting balls out because we’ve been struggling with that,” Butynski said. “But it helped on the other end of it, and it was a beautiful goal.”
Even Thibeault recognized Northampton’s apparent response, and the difference in the Blue Devils’ playing style between the two halves.
“They’re a good team, a quality team, and they came out and pressured our defense quite a bit,” Thibeault said. “They definitely had a couple great opportunities, second half specifically. Their goal, that was a pretty awesome goal. Nothing you can do about that.”
Madysen LePage added the fourth and final Orioles goal on an assist from Clancy in the final minute of the game to make it a 4-1 final.
Both teams have talented goalies, and Belchertown actually uses two. Oravec, who made nine saves for Northampton, is just a freshman, and has plenty of time to continue to develop her already impressive skills.
“She kept us in the game,” Butynski said. “It was an unlucky first goal, but we told her to have a short memory and let it go. She had countless saves, 1-v-1s, balls here and there, but she, as a freshman, she’s gonna be fantastic. She’s got the height, she’s got the skill, and she’ll get the mentality. She kept us in the game, and she’s a fantastic player. She’s gonna be something real big.”
Belchertown’s dynamic duo of Dubey and Jillian DeBarge was on full display tonight. Each goalie made two saves and did a great job of conducting the defense to hold the Blue Devils offense – one that has scored at least six goals in five of their games this season – to one goal.
“We have two quality goalkeepers, and they’ve bought into the team system of one plays one half and one plays the other,” Thibeault said. “If someone is playing really well, then we’ll leave one in, but they’ve bought in. To have one goalkeeper that knows the position is huge, and we have two quality goalkeepers. Michaela is a senior, Jill is a junior, so we’ll at least have Jill again. I’ve been fortunate to have them both over the past couple years, and they’ve helped us not have to worry about that aspect of the game.”
Northampton (5-6) next hosts Palmer Tuesday night at 7 p.m., while Belchertown (6-4) travels to East Longmeadow – also Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
