HADLEY — As the ball left her foot with just a few minutes left to go in the girls soccer game, Hopkins’ Bridget Benoit was hopeful the wind was at her back and her shot would get by Easthampton’s goalie. The junior’s shot came outside of the box in a 4-4 tie at home against the Eagles.
Her shot stayed high just enough to be out of reach of Eagles goalie Natalie Lisatinski. It was Benoit’s second goal of the game, but more importantly, it gave the Golden Hawks their first lead of the game.
“I think that was probably one of my best goals I’ve had,” Benoit said.
After giving up three goals in the first ten minutes of the game, Hopkins scored five second-half goals to complete their comeback to beat Easthampton 5-4 at home on Monday. Over the course of the contest, Hawks coach Vincent Catania saw his team go from one of their worst stretches of the season to their best.
“This group is able to recognize where they’re weak, and when they’re weak,” Catania said. “And (they can) kind of snap out of it.”
At the start, the Eagles looked like the better of the two teams, controlling the ball in the offensive zone for most of the half.
Gianna Covalli started the scoring for the visitors from the left side of the goal on a pass from senior Arie Kuchyt. A few minutes later, Kuchyt received a leading pass from Alana Halpin that let her break away from the defense up the middle to put Easthampton ahead 2-0 before the 10-minute mark of the game.
Before the Hawks could catch their breath on the next possession, Halpin hit the masterpiece of the early burst with a deep kick from outside the right of the box that curved through the defense and hit the top corner of the net.
“We were doing a great job of connecting, possessing, and moving the ball to create opportunities,” Easthampton coach Brian Miller said.
Down 3-0, not even a third of the way through the half, Catania called timeout.
“In my mind, losing 3-0 was the same as losing 10-0,” he said. “We were going to take risks, we were going to play a little bit differently. It’ll either backfire on us or it’ll work.”
For the rest of the half, the tide began to turn for Hopkins. The team started getting the ball deeper into the zone, even getting a few shots on net, but still nothing to show for it.
“I think in the last 20 minutes of the first half we started to step up,” Benoit said. “We knew we had to start putting the pressure on them.”
Benoit finally put the Hawks on the scoreboard with a close shot early in the second half off a pass from junior Morgan Augustin.
Easthampton responded five minutes late in the 55th minute when Covally found junior Noey Ryan in the middle of the box for a goal that put the Eagles up 4-1. That score remained the same going into the 70th minute.
With the window for a comeback slowly closing, it was the Hawks’ turn to score in bunches.
Hopkins’ Olivia Earle scored to narrow the deficit to 4-2, leading Easthampton to call a timeout. Soon after the huddle, Ephie Vissas kicked a laser from outside the box to make it a one-goal game. She finished with a goal and assist in the afternoon.
After forcing a corner kick, Benoit brought the ball to the left corner and took a moment to plan her kick. Once again, when she put the ball in the air she hoped for a teammate to get the first touch.
Avelynn Augustin answered the call with a header directly into the goal to tie the game.
“That definitely brought our team spirit up and helped us get to the fifth goal,” Benoit said.
In a matter of five minutes, the Hawks went from a tough defeat to on the verge of a memorable comeback. They outshot the Eagles 11-1 in the second half.
“We couldn’t win the ball back,” Miller said. “So they kept getting opportunities. And they have some midfields who can hit the ball from deep. We knew that was going to be a problem.”
And in the 78th minute, Augustin returned the favor by getting the ball to Benoit for the game-winner.
“I’m proud of how our team played and came back in the second half,” Benoit said.
Hopkins improves to 3-0 on the season, it heads to Holyoke on Thursday. Easthampton drops to 2-1 and hosts Palmer on Thursday.
Belchertown 3, Westfield 1 — Adelina Gualberto scored a pair of goals and added an assist in Belchertown’s win over Westfield. Aubrey Klingensmith scored the third goal for the Orioles.
Klingensmith and Morghan Litz each assist on Gualberto’s goals. Linnea Anderson and Ryan Blazejowski combined for six saves as Belchertown improves to 2-1.
Granby 5, Pittsfield 0 — The Rams picked up their second win in dominating fashion over Pittsfield. Kalli White and Sophia Wright each scored two goals while Margo Healy tallied three assists.
Marcela Tapia also scored for Granby and McKenna Zumbruski added an assist. Meredith Bartosz made four saves.
Amherst 4, Monson 0 — The Hurricanes won their first game of the season with a shutout over Monson.
Bea Eggemeir and Maeve Fitzgerald matched stat lines with two goals and one assist each. Maggie Hogan Reilly recorded one assist as well. Mercy Pope made five saves for Amherst in the win.
Smith Voc 7, Springfield Central 2 — The Vikings remain a perfect 3-0 after an offensive frenzy on Monday. Three players had multi-goal performances for Smith.
Julianis Suarez led the team with three goals, all in the second half, while Erin Miller and Haylee Hussey each had two. Miller also tallied an assist.
Suarez was in goal for the first half where she made two saves. Evelyn Wanczyk made one save for the Vikings in the second half and allowed two goals.
Kate Wolcott and Isabella Letourneau each had an assist on the afternoon.
Franklin Tech 5, Smith Academy 0 — The Falcons are still searching for their first win of the season after a shutout loss.
Gateway 4, Mount Everett Regional 4 — The Gators go to 2-0-1 on the year after a hard fought battle in Sheffield.
Holyoke 8, Greenfield 2 — An eight goal performance earned the Knights their first win of the year.
Leilany Figueroa flung in four goals while Kyra Lippman netted a hat trick.
Boys soccer
Hampshire 4, Mt. Greylock 1 — Three points from Riley Florek (two goals, assist) powered the Raiders past the Mounties in the road victory.
Patrick Schmidt and Zak Hamel also found the back of the net for Hampshire, while Isaiah Isa totaled four saves in goal.
Amherst 3, Monument Mtn. 2 — The Hurricanes stormed past the Spartans via three different goalscorers in the road win.
Alex Pobezinskiy, Noe Arboleda-Rulf and Samuel Nunez-Saravia pocketed goals for Amherst, which moved to 2-0-2 overall.
Goalie Tobin Kaplan collected 10 saves on 12 shots for the ‘Canes.
Hopkins 0, Gateway 0 — No goals were scored in Monday’s non-league matchup.
Gators goalie Zack Hess totaled nine saves while Hawks keeper Matt Feltovic finished with five stops.
Westfield Tech 5, Granby 0 — The Rams suffered their first loss of the season in the shutout to the Tigers.
Granby’s Jacob Weglarz made six saves in goal.
Girls volleyball
Belchertown 3, Holyoke 0 — The Orioles got back in the win column following two straight defeats in the shutout against the Purple Knights.
Cassidy MacLean (10 kills), Olivia Skora (27 assists) and Kaiya Cavanaugh (12 digs) led Belchertown to the sweep.
Set scores read 25-5, 25-22 and 25-14 in favor of the Orioles.
Amherst 3, West Springfield 0 — The Hurricanes moved to 3-0 after its convincing victory against the Bulldogs on Monday.
Amherst claimed the sweep with set scores of 25-11, 25-10 and 25-12.
Golf
Belchertown 165, Amherst 175 — Wesley Hill’s 39 helped the Orioles snap their two-match losing streak in the win at Amherst Golf Club.
The Hurricanes were led by Graham Van Geissen’s 41.
Ludlow 165, Hampshire 174 — The Lions nipped the Raiders at Westover Golf Course.
Brayden Fennessy shot even-par 36, but it wasn’t enough as Hampshire fell to 5-2 overall.
Weekend Results
Cross Country
The Amherst boys cross country team fell one point short of the junior/senior title at the MSTCA Relays at Highland Park in Attleboro on Saturday.
The Hurricanes totaled 49 points, with Peter Nedeau, Otis Fairey and Calvin Miller finishing third overall with a time of 23 minutes, 44 seconds across 4.6 miles.
Needham claimed the team crown with 48 points.
Amherst’s freshmen/sophomore team of Hunter Pete, Oliver Rubin and Strike Barrett also raced well, taking seventh place in 26:31.
“No other Western Mass. team attended, but we felt we represented the region well with our strong finishes in both divisions,” Hurricanes head coach Chris Gould said.
Boys soccer
South Hadley 1, Frontier 0 — In a rematch of last season’s MIAA Division 4 Round of 32 thriller, the Tigers once again came out on top.
Chris Sotiropoulos’ second-half strike gave South Hadley the victory last Friday, which improved to 2-0-1 on the season.
Girls soccer
Granby 2, Southwick 1 — Goals from Marcela Tapia and Margo Healy led the Rams to win No. 1 on the season last Friday.
Granby goalie Meredith Bartosz made seven saves in the victory.
Girls volleyball
SICS 3, Holyoke 0 — The Purple Knights got better as the match progressed, but failed to earn a set win against the Bulldogs last Thursday. Set scores read 13-25, 19-25 and 21-25.
Kelcy Brunelle (six kills, three aces) and Tatiana Gonzalez (14 assists, ace) played well for Holyoke in the defeat.
