NORTHAMPTON — Three goals in the opening 15 minutes helped propel the Northampton boys soccer team past Amherst, 4-1, in a Churchill League scrap on Wednesday night.
Derek Rivers and Sam Busone connected on each of the first two tallies, before Busone cleaned up a rebound opportunity for the Blue Devils’ third marker, putting the hosts in great position for the remainder of the match.
“We’re growing up as a team,” Northampton head coach CJ Holt said. “We’ve been playing together a while, these boys, and I think we’ve had some struggles and we’re aware of it so we were very mindful to get a fast start. We knew they’d come out with energy.”
Rivers registered the game’s first goal at 33:01 with a heeled-in ball that snuck inside the right post for an early 1-0 Blue Devils lead.
About three minutes later, Rivers swiftly maneuvered around a Hurricanes defender on the right side of the pitch, then fed Busone who was streaking toward the net in the middle of the box and Northampton’s No. 25 put it into the back of the net all in one motion to double its lead to 2-0 at 30:32.
The Blue Devils’ third goal occurred with 24:42 showing on the clock and came after Northampton’s initial shot doinked off the far past and back out in front of the net.
Amherst joined in on the first-half scoring bonanza about a minute after the Blue Devils’ third strike as Noe Arboleda-Ruff chipped a perfect, left-foot floater into the mesh, putting the visitors on the board, 3-1, at 23:32.
“Hand it to them, they’re a good team,” ‘Canes head coach Jordan McCarthy said. “They’re a challenge for us. It was a good test for us to see where we’re at. I think it was definitely a compliment to them, they were ready right off the bat. But that’s something we’ve got to work on is the first 15 minutes, being ready to go from the get-go.”
Amherst’s goal seemed to spark the group into the second half as it earned multiple scoring bids on free kicks and corner kicks through the early portion of the second frame.
Northampton put an end to that with Jasper Cantor’s insurance marker at 20:40, which was an incredible individual effort goal from the Blue Devils’ senior, off an assist from Busone.
Busone factored into every Northampton goal and claimed four points, while Rivers was the only other multi-point getter in the Blue Devils’ third win in a row.
“He just brings it every game, his intensity, he’s one of those kids who’s got park and fifth gear and nothing in between. He’s just 100 miles-an-hour out there,” Holt said about Rivers. “He’s such a catalyst for our offense and it’s great to see him get his first goal.”
The Hurricanes will go back to the drawing board after taking their first loss of the 2025 season.
“We’re a resilient group,” McCarthy said. “The first two games, we had some things go against us and we battled back so didn’t feel like this was our night. We started to get out of our game a little bit and we went down the tubes after that. It’s a learning experience for them. I told them, we learn every single day, we get 1% better every day and this is a chance for us to get a little bit better.”
Northampton will have a quick turnaround with a game at Monument Mountain on Thursday, while Amherst will host Pittsfield on Friday.
