Div. 3 boys soccer: Pair of second-half goals send Dighton-Rehoboth past Belchertown, into state quarterfinals (PHOTOS)

BELCHERTOWN — After an evenly played, scoreless first half of soccer between No. 26 Dighton-Rehoboth and No. 23 Belchertown, it became evident one goal was probably going to be enough to decide which team would move on to the MIAA Division 3 quarterfinals to play No. 2 Gloucester.

Falcons forward Kristof Trond scored with 26 minutes left in the game and added a second goal for good measure 15 minutes later as the Orioles fell 2-0 in the Round of 16 on Wednesday night to put an end to their season.

When Belchertown wrapped up its regular season at home against Minnechaug, head coach Zach Siano told his team it would be the last time they would get to play on their home field considering the seeding of the Western Mass. and state tournaments. But after the Orioles upset No. 10 Nauset and Dighton-Rehoboth upset No. 7 Blackstone Valley Tech in the Round of 32, they earned a home game for Wednesday night’s contest.

“It was a pleasant surprise for us to be able in front of our fans, for our town, our community, our school one last time, I hope they’re proud of the effort these guys put in,” Siano said.

Trond’s first goal came off a well executed set play from a sideline throw in the Falcons’ attacking third. When Belchertown went down 1-0, it knew it had to ramp up its pressure to find an equalizer. 

The Orioles were content with only holding one or two back to shadow Trond while the rest of the team was up trying to score a goal. In a playoff game, there’s no difference between a multi-goal defeat or losing by one, so Siano was OK with the sacrifice.

“We changed up formations. We basically said we’re either gonna give up a goal or we’re gonna get a goal,” Siano said. “We ended up conceding one. We tried to change some things up structurally, throw some numbers up and see what it looks like. I’d rather lose four, five, six, seven nothing than 1-0, and I thought they pushed themselves to try and get that equalizer.”

Belchertown’s best chance to score against a very disciplined Falcons back line came with just over 11 minutes left in the game. Orioles sophomore Camryn Kaczowka received the ball in the middle of the box and ripped a shot on goal. Dighton-Rehoboth keeper Brennan Silva made the stop before punting the ball out of harm’s way.

The Falcons earned possession off Silva’s punt, and the ball found Trond with space to operate. He took a shot from the top left of the box. The ball blistered by Belchertown goalie Jack Mandeville and nestled into the top right corner of the net for a highlight-reel goal, most importantly giving Dighton-Rehoboth a more comfortable 2-0 lead.

“I thought we slowed them down and put them under in the final third of the field,” Siano said of his team’s effort right before the goal. “This is just soccer. One leak out play, a goal happens. We’re pressing, we hit the keeper’s hands, then their second [goal] is a bar-down goal.”

Between Kaczowka’s great look on net and another Belchertown shot that hit the post, the Orioles did have some decent looks to get on the scoreboard. A few other shots also just barely sprayed wide or over the frame but the Falcons back four held strong. They were in sync as a unit, and when one stepped up to challenge a ball, another would be close by for support while the other two slid over to cover.

That was the difference on Wednesday night.

“They had a good game plan,” Siano said. “They condensed into that final third of the field and they did a good job tightening themselves up. Their back line was strong, clean, good in the air, and we just couldn’t break through it. We just didn’t have that clean look we were looking for.”

Rainer Kristensen, Tanner Lockwood, Christopher Rivers, Mason Rodrigues, and Trevor Weiss played their final games in a Belchertown uniform. The five seniors helped the Orioles (10-7-3 this season) make strides not only as a team, but a program as a whole. Rivers even selflessly volunteered to change his position, speaking to the kind of culture Belchertown has established under Siano.

“It’s a great senior group,” Siano said. “Especially guys like Rivers who had to go and play center back for us having never played that for us before at the high school level. For him to sacrifice that is really the embodiment of what this program is. It’s program over personnel, that’s how we always try to push ourselves, and that’s what we’re gonna put together going forward.”

Dighton-Rehoboth will travel to Gloucester on Saturday at 4 p.m. for a quarterfinal contest.