H.S. roundup: Ashlyn Moynihan’s first-career goal serves as winner in Smith Academy’s 2-1 triumph over South Hadley

SOUTH HADLEY — Tied up at one apiece with less than two minutes to go, the Smith Academy field hockey team was awarded a penalty corner and set up a play looking to take the lead.

The ball found Ashlyn Moynihan, who buried a goal — the first of her career — with 1 minute, 26 seconds remaining in the game to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead over South Hadley. Smith Academy held on for the win in what was a thrilling finish to open the regular season on Wednesday.

“It was a textbook finish to open up our season,” Falcons head coach Karlie Guimond said. “Our unit showed up ready to work today and finished the job with poise. A huge shoutout to our defense for holding strong until the end.”

Moynihan couldn’t have tallied her first-ever goal at a better time for Smith Academy. Sophia Jagodzinski scored the other Falcons goal while Bella Gavron notched an assist. Chloe Avery made seven saves in an impressive effort in the cage to earn her first career win.

Sam Harrison tallied for South Hadley, assisted by Nora Vaughn.

Smith Academy (1-0) travels to Holyoke on Friday while South Hadley (0-1) hosts Mohawk Trail on Saturday.

Amherst 4, Northampton 0 — Blue Devils goalie Charlotte Johnson-Mersack did everything she could to keep the Hurricanes off the board with 16 saves, but Amherst’s offense was just too much in a decisive victory on Wednesday.

Aria Haupt buried two goals for the ‘Canes while Jo Becker and Leah Kalman also added tallies. Hattie Holabird tallied an assist in the win.

Boys soccer

Frontier 2, Monument Mountain 1 — Tied 1-1 late, Redhawk Conor Prew found the back of the net off an assist from Hank Pleasant to lift Frontier to a victory at Herlihy Park on Wednesday.

Max Millette opened the scoring for Frontier in the fourth minute off an assist from Eric Larsson. Jack Cusson made four saves in the victory.

Girls soccer

Hopkins 5, Ware 0 — The Golden Hawks were clicking on all cylinders on Wednesday, and they looked as if they were in midseason form with an easy win over Ware buoyed by Olivia Earle’s two goals and one assist.

Morgan Augustin scored twice as well, Bridget Benoit added a goal and Ephor Vissas distributed three assists in the win.

“Exciting start to the season versus a tough Ware team,” Hopkins head coach Vincent Catania said. “Lots of positives and areas to improve. Excited to see how we grow from today.”

Girls volleyball

Smith Voc 3, Ware 0 — The Vikings eased to win No. 1 on the season in its regular season opener at home. Smith Voc took straight sets by scores of 25-11, 25-19, 25-16.

Leah Franklin (three aces, nine kills, two digs, assist), Heidymar Diaz-Lopez (ace, eight kills, 10 digs, three assists) and Macreclina Berthiaume (two aces, block, kills, dig) all played well for Smith Voc.

Golf

Hopkins 162, Mohawk Trail 205 — Ryley Regan dazzled with a 35 while Chace Earle turned in a solid round of 41 to pace the Golden Hawks in a blowout win on Wednesday afternoon.

Laney Crutch and Jessica Waskiewicz also scored for Hopkins, as each shot a 43 in what was a great all-around effort on the course for the Hawks.

Frontier 172, Pioneer 197 — Brady Wood and Jacob Cornelison led the way with scores of 43 to propel the Redhawks to a victory at Cherry Hill on Wednesday.

Addy Wood and Teddy McCarthy each carded a 44 for Frontier.

Pathfinder 187, Easthampton 190 — The Eagles dropped their first match of the season in Wednesday’s competitive outing at Cold Spring Country Club.

Aiden Subocz had the low-round of the match for Easthampton, shooting a 46. Bryce Evans (47), Kaden Cormier (48) and Brady McGinn-Stevens (49) factored into the Eagles’ point total with strong rounds.

Hampshire 164, Amherst 188 — Medalist honors from the Raiders’ Riley Florek moved Hampshire’s record to 3-0 following Wednesday’s win at Blandford Country Club.

Brayden Fennessey (39), Cole Boissonneault (43) and Declan Butler (44) joined Florek as the Raiders’ scorers.

The Hurricanes were led by Ben Scott (40), Graham Van Diessan (44), Callum Bohme (51) and Phin Pyecroft (53).

Amherst dropped to 0-3 with the defeat.

Athol 168, Smith Voc 169 — The Vikings lost their third match in a row on Wednesday in the close defeat to the Bears at Wyckoff Country Club in Holyoke.

Pat Dabrowski shot a 38 to lead Smith Voc, while Keller McMahon (42), Andrew Persaud (43) and Jayson Clark and Conor Braunschweig each carded a 46 to round out the Vikings’ scorers.

Wednesday’s total of 169 was Smith Voc’s best of the season to date.

Boys cross country

Amherst 15  Southwick 49
Amherst 15  Westfield 50
Amherst 15 Westfield Tech 50 — Calvin Miller paced an Amherst sweep of the top six spots, taking first overall at Stanley Park in Westfield with a time of 17:13 on Wednesday.

Peter Nedeau (second, 17:53), Nico Lisle (third, 17:54), Otis Fairey (fourth, 17:59), Sam Woodruff (fifth, 18:06) and Calvin Cusick (sixth, 18:13) all ran well for the ‘Canes.

Frontier 20, Easthampton 38
Frontier 16, McCann 47
Frontier 16, Franklin Tech 47
Easthampton 17, Franklin Tech 40 — Evan Hedlund was the first to cross the finish line at the 14 minute, 56 second mark to propel the Redhawks to a trio of wins in South Deerfield Wednesday.

Frontier’s Adam Paul placed second (16:55) while Dean Gray (third, 17:00), Caleb Libbey (sixth, 18:43) and Emerson Clark (10th, 19:25) rounded out the top 10 finishers for the Redhawks.

Easthampton’s Will Jourdain paced his side with a fourth-place showing (17:00), followed by Otto Ewing (17:24).

PVCICS 15, Hopkins 50
PVCICS 15, Gateway 50
Gateway 15, Hopkins 50 — The Dragons swept the top five, led by winner Grafton Tolopko with a time of 15:35 on the 2.75-mile course in Hadley.

RJ Allen took second (16:39), Kristof Knyt was third (16:44), Asa Taggert nabbed fourth (16:51), and Ayden Klatte was fifth (17:29).

Gateway’s Jacob Maynard was sixth (17:34) to pace his side, and Hopkins’ Deegan Austin-Dietz finished seventh (18:05).

Girls cross country

Amherst 15, Westfield 50 — A pack of Hurricanes finished right after one another in Wednesday’s season-opening race at Stanley Park in Westfield, helping Amherst to a dominant win.

Genevieve Dole was the individual winner, finishing with a time of 22:07 — same as runner-up Marit MacDonald. Nina Holden, Lilly Pope and Quynh Ly all finished with identical times of 22:08 and secured third through fifth places, respectively.

Frontier 15, McCann 44
Frontier 15, Franklin Tech 50
Easthampton 15, Franklin Tech 50
Frontier 16, Easthampton 43 — Redhawk Louise Flagollet took first (19:56) while Frontier’s Liv Christensen (19:59), Maia Christensen (20:24) and Maddie Antes (20:31) were the next three runners to cross as the Redhawks secured three wins in South Deerfield Wednesday.

Farrah Lemay (21:16) added a sixth place finish for Frontier. 

Easthampton’s Gwen Banz was fifth overall in 20:42.

PVCICS 15, Hopkins 50
PVCICS 19, Gateway 39
Gateway 15, Hopkins 50 — Caprial DiBartolomeo was the individual winner for host Hopkins Academy, traversing the 2.75-mile course in 19:11 on Wednesday in Hadley.

Ella Maier led the way for PVCICS with a runner-up finish in a time of 19:24, followed closely by Eunice Lo (19:27) and Astrid Knyt (19:48) in third and fourth, respectively.

Gateway’s was Ava Christie (19:56) took fifth overall.

Late Tuesday results

Girls volleyball

Belchertown 3, West Springfield 0 — Layla Liminski and Cassidy MacLean had monster offensive nights for the Orioles on Tuesday, as they combined for 21 kills alongside Kaiya Cavanaugh’s strong all-around performance of 18 digs, three aces and two kills in a sweep of the Terriers.

Set scores were 25-12, 25-21, 27-25.

Olivia Skora had a team-high 13 assists, Abigail Almeida added four kills, six digs and a pair of aces and Liminski worked for 14 digs of her own as Belchertown improved to 1-0 on the year.

Girls soccer

West Springfield 6, Amherst 0 — It wasn’t the season opener the Hurricanes hoped for, as the Terriers came out and dominated from start to finish on Tuesday evening.

Amherst returns to action on Thursday against Frontier.

Chicopee Comp 8, Holyoke 0 — Six different Colts players recorded a goal in a rout of Holyoke on Tuesday afternoon in both teams’ season opener.

The Purple Knights recorded a respectable nine shots, however Comp keepers Julianna LaFond and Annie Dulong stopped all of them. Holyoke goalie Jennaya Torres made eight saves.