NORTHAMPTON — Sometimes, ties can resemble wins in sports and that was exactly the case in Monday’s field hockey matchup between Northampton and Hampshire.
The Blue Devils potted their first goal of the year and the Raiders halted a four-game losing streak in a 1-1 draw at Northampton High School.
“I think they’re getting better and better every day they’re playing the game,” Blue Devils head coach Meshia Begin said. “Getting that energy to go forward and to make a goal happen is really exciting for us. Great play tonight.”
Hampshire junior Madelyn Layman put the visitors in front early, scoring less than five minutes into the game off a penalty corner during the first quarter, for a 1-0 Raiders lead.
Play leveled out until Northampton earned consecutive penalty-corner opportunities to begin the third frame, which wore Hampshire’s defense down and allowed Blue Devils senior Avery Koloszyc to blast home the equalizer at 11:23.
Koloszyc’s strike counted as Northampton’s first goal in five games.
Neither team could find the back of the net again as both squads secured their first ties of the 2025 season.
“It was a great, evenly-matched game tonight,” Hampshire head coach Susannah Bastek said. “Northampton has gotten better since we last played them and their goalie did a fantastic job. Of course, we were hoping for the win and had some missed opportunities, but we were thrilled with Maddie Layman’s goal that she scored on a penalty corner. Because of illness and injuries, we pulled up two eighth-graders from [junior varsity], Sunali Driver and Addyson White, who stepped up and played really well.”
The two teams last met Sept. 2 in a game the Raiders won, 2-0.
Hampshire held the edge in penalty corners, 9-7, while both goalies saw a slew of action.
Hampshire’s Grace Layman made 11 saves, trailing Blue Devils goalie Charlotte Johnson-Mersack’s save total (13) by a pair.
Begin noted Johnson-Mersack’s stellar play all year long, which included a 34-save performance in a loss against Belchertown last week.
“[Her] energy on the ball, she just wants to limit the amount of attacks on the goal,” Begin said. “She’s versatile. Her agility is right up there as one of the best goalies in western Mass., so just really impressive. Her leadership is really where we truly count on her.”
Northampton (0-4-1) returns to the pitch Tuesday for a road game against South Hadley while Hampshire (1-4-1) visits Belchertown on Wednesday.
Both games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
Frontier 3, Minnechaug 2 — Elsa Brown, Ashlie Galenski and Macy DeMaio all secured goals for the Redhawks in their big win. Haly Doucette-Kaplan and Addie Harrington had assists for Frontier (2-2-1).
Redhawks goalie Brooke Charest collected eight saves.
Belchertown 1, Tantasqua 1 — Lila Roy’s 18 saves, combined with Kian Roy’s goal and Kina Roy’s assist highlighted the Orioles draw with Tantasqua.
Belchertown’s tie counts as its first non-win of the season. The Orioles are now 4-0-1.
Boys soccer
Smith Academy 6, Mahar 1 — Matt Scagel’s hat trick helped the Falcons earn their first win of the season. Scagel added an assist, too, as Smith Academy’s offense broke through against the Senators after totaling just two goals in its first four games.
Oscar Higuera (goal, three assists) and Cajun Benson (goal, assist) factored into the Falcons’ big night.
“The team has been putting in the effort so it’s nice to get rewarded with a win,” Smith Academy head coach Jason Duncan said. “We’re still looking to be better at the end of the October than we were in August.”
The Falcons improved to 1-4 after the huge ‘W’.
South Hadley 7, Easthampton 1 — The Tigers reigned in win No. 1 on the season in impressive fashion.
Both Nolan Masse and Hunter Keller recorded a pair of goals for South Hadley. Ben Gillis, Matt Gillis and Martin Dixon added single strikes for the Tigers.
Noah Carillon contributed seven saves in goal for South Hadley (1-3-1). Eagles goalie Thomas Meehan made 10 saves as Easthampton fell to 1-3.
SICS 3, Granby 1 — Anthony Santiago sent in the Rams’ lone goal in its second loss of the year.
Granby goalie Daniel Santiago concluded with seven saves as SICS scored twice in the first half, before a Rams (2-2-2) own-goal gave the hosts insurance in the second 40 minutes.
Frontier 5, Pittsfield 0 — Make it three shutouts in their last four games following the Redhawks’ clean sheet against the Generals on Monday.
Ian Paciorek (goal, assist) led the way for Frontier while Casey Bestler, Henry Pleasant, Carter Miller and Xavier Fripp also joined in with goals.
The Redhawks (4-1), who led 2-0 at halftime, received five saves from goalie Jack Cussone.
Hampshire 7, Greenfield 0 — Seven goals sets a new season-high for the Raiders, who moved to 3-0 on the season following their huge road victory.
Joe Moro and Noah Montiero each scored twice for Hampshire. Collin Cahill, Eli Fern and an own-goal from the Green Wave made up the Raiders’ other three tallies.
Hampshire scored three during the first half and tacked on four more in the final frame.
Longmeadow 5, Belchertown 0 — The Orioles were held off the board for the first time this season in the shutout loss.
Belchertown sank to 3-2 overall in the road defeat.
Wahconah 5, Hopkins 0 — Matt Feltovic did all he could in net for the Golden Hawks (15 saves) in the loss.
Hopkins’ record moved to 1-4 on the season.
Amherst 2, Monument Mt. 2 — A slow first half gave way to an eventful second as all four of the game’s goals were scored after the halftime break.
Eliam De Los Reyes and Ghulam Rahimi recorded strikes for the Hurricanes while Theo Almeida had a helper.
Amherst’s (3-1-1) Tobin Kaplan turned aside eight shots in the draw.
Northampton 3, East Longmeadow 1 — A second-half surge pushed the Blue Devils’ winning streak to five games.
Sam Busone and Jasper Cantor (two) were Northampton’s goalscorers as it erased a 1-0 halftime deficit to improve to 5-0 on the year.
Will Senn-McNally and Owen Laughlin picked up assists for the Blue Devils.
Goalie Salem Gregory grabbed five saves in the gutsy road victory.
Hoosac Valley 3, PVCICS 2 — After trailing 2-0 at halftime, the Dragons fought back and made it a competitive game in the second half on two goals from Nate Tuttle, but it was the Hurricanes who found the back of the net once more for the decider.
Grace Rachele registered five saves in net for PVCICS, which stands 2-2 overall after the loss.
Girls soccer
Longmeadow 4, Belchertown 2 — The Orioles dropped their first contest since their season-opener in the home defeat.
Rhaya Manning’s two goals helped the Lancers improve to 5-0 on the year.
Belchertown now sits at 2-2-1 overall.
Girls volleyball
Renaissance 3, Smith Voc 1 — The Vikings took their first loss of the season in the four-set defeat.
Set scores read 25-13, 21-25, 25-22, and 29-27.
Smith Voc’s Leah Franklin (three aces, 10 blocks, assist, four digs and six kills), Heidymar Diaz-Lopez (three aces, three assists, 13 digs and 13 kills) and Irelyn Marcoux (three aces, block, 13 digs and 6 kills) stuffed the stat sheet.
Golf
Minnechaug 144, South Hadley 162 — Ryan MacGregor’s one-under round of 35 wasn’t enough as the Tigers fell at Ledges Golf Club.
Medalist honors went to Brody Faneuff of the Falcons, who carded a two-under 34.
Belchertown 171, Chicopee Comp 177 — The Orioles squeaked past the Colts to end its losing streak in the victory at Chicopee Country Club.
Belchertown bumped up to 5-3 on the year.
Frontier 161, Southwick 170 — Brady Wood shot the low round of the match (37) to lead the Redhawks to their fourth consecutive win.
Addy Wood (41), Jamie McCarthy (41) and Teddy McCarthy (42) played well for Frontier, which improved to 6-4.
Pioneer Valley 183, Hopkins 185 — Monday’s match at Northfield Golf Club was decided by the slightest of margins as the Golden Hawks came out on the short end of the stick.
Aiden Keeling-Lococo led the way for Hopkins with a 45 and was followed by Chase Earle, Jessica Waskiewicz and Siddarth Pamar, who all shot 47.
The Hawks dropped below .500 in the defeat with a 3-4 record.
Late Weekend Results
Cross country
The Amherst boys cross country team competed at the Southern Maine Classic on Saturday and blew away the competition in the team scores, taking first place.
The Hurricanes concluded with 76 points as the only team to post a sub-100 score of the 35 teams that raced.
Calvin Miller was Amherst’s first finisher in the boys 5k race, taking second place in 15 minutes, 55.29 seconds.
Peter Nedeau (eighth, 16:36.71), Nico Lisle (13th, 16:48.63), Otis Fairey (23rd, 17:18.94) and Sam Woodruff (33rd, 17:40.82) were the Hurricanes’ next fastest times behind Miller.
Fairey competed in the freshmen/sophomore race and claimed fifth overall. Officials merged the times between the freshmen/sophomore race and junior/senior race afterward to make one composite results list.
Field hockey
Smith Academy 4, Amherst 2 — The Falcons got the better of the Hurricanes in Saturday’s Valley Division showdown.
Shae Moulton paced the Smith Academy offense with two goals. Bella Gavron and Bella Brammucci netted the other scores for the Falcons, who trailed 2-0 at halftime.
“What I loved about this game was the way we fought back from being down 2-0,” Smith Academy head coach Karlie Guimond said. “To be able to bounce back from adversity and take control back was crucial. Our team adjusted and got the job done”
The Falcons defense also locked it down as Amherst finished with 12 penalty-corner opportunities, yet didn’t score on any of those chances.
Chloe Avery was attributed with nine saves for Smith Academy (4-0).
Elsie Woodruff and Sophie Soares slotted goals for the ‘Canes while goalie Eden Polak posted five saves for Amherst (2-3-1).
Sutton 2, Frontier 1 — Addie Harrington had the Redhawks’ single strike in the loss.
Goalie Brooke Charest had four saves for Frontier.