H.S. Roundup: Multi-goal performances lift Smith Voc boys soccer over Holyoke

HOLYOKE — Nearing the end of the regular season, the Smith Vocational boys soccer team knows it needs every win it can get if it wants a shot at the MIAA state tournament.

Entering its second matchup of the season against Holyoke on Thursday, the Vikings’ record stood at 4-4-2. A loss would drop the team below .500 and put them at risk of the automatic qualifier with a few games remaining.

Smith Voc put the pressure on early by trying to get the ball to their striker Josh Cole. The senior, who had the most goals on the team coming into the day, was the focus of the Purple Knights’ defense.

Cole pushed through a physical Holyoke defense to score two first-half goals that injected energy into the team for the 5-1 win on Holyoke’s turf.

“Later on in the season, our team has really come together,” Smith Voc head coach Ryan Della Penna said. “We have a lot more energy, a lot more positivity.”

Jozef Skwisz sent a long ball over midfield that was high enough to allow Cole to get around and box out his defender. With perfect positioning, Cole sent a low shot in for the goal.

“We needed that first goal,” Cole said. “The first goal decides the game honestly.”

While Cole had to work for his first goal, his second came as a little bit of a surprise. Holyoke’s goalie topped what should have been a kick to midfield. Instead, the ball stayed low and went right to Cole.

Three Knights collapsed on Cole, but he managed to slip away and hit another shot from the box that rolled in to put Smith Voc up 2-0 with just over two minutes in the half.

The pair of scores increased Cole’s total to 12 on the season. On top of a position change from midfield to striker this fall, the senior also shifted his mindset to be in attack mode more often.

“I’m looking to score more, not looking to pass. I’m getting way more opportunities. But definitely trying to push the team forward and help us get the win at the end of the day,” Cole said.

Holyoke quickly responded 16 seconds later on a goal from Nayan Tabin on a pass from Xavier Davila. The goal gave Holyoke some momentum heading into halftime down 2-1.

“We’ve done a good job of playing when we are down and that was really key to get that before halftime because it gave us a little momentum,” Holyoke head coach Cameron Rivest said. “It’s just a matter of continuing to keep up that pressure. And I think we kind of fell flat.”

The second half slowly turned into a one-sided affair. Just a few minutes into the half, Smith Voc crossed the ball twice in the box starting from Cole to Jaxie Parshal to Joel Charbonneau for the goal.

The officials stopped the game midway with about 20 minutes left in the game. After a Smith Voc player went down with no foul called, the refs stopped play to check for an injury. During the stoppage, players from both teams made remarks that forced the referees to send both teams back to their benches.

“He came to us and said to tell the rest of the team to just relax and let him call the game, which is fair,” Della Penna said.

Once play resumed, Smith Voc controlled possession for most of the match. Holyoke generated a couple of corner kicks but failed to get any more good shots on net.

The wheels fell off for Holyoke in the final five minutes as the Vikings scored two goals in the closing minutes for the final exclamation mark.

Cole made a pass from the middle to the right wing that allowed Parshal to net his fifth goal of the season. Shortly thereafter, Zaddok Jean-Louis completed a pass in the box to Charbonneau who finished for his second goal of the game.

“Josh scored most of our goals this year, so it’s really good to see,” Della Penna said. “We have a lot of kids that scored, just not many goals. So it’s nice that another striker is up there taking their chances.”

Now 5-4-2, the Vikings are above .500 for the first time this season. If they can pick up at least one win in their three final games, they can secure a spot in the preliminary round for the tournament.

The Purple Knights’ backs are against the wall. The team needs to win their final four games in order to get the automatic playoff berth. Their next test is at home against Granby on Wednesday.

Field Hockey

South Hadley 5, Amherst 0 — Five different players scored as the Tigers won their fifth straight game.

Ella Harber, Quinn Carlson, Sam Harrison, Sami Laflesh, and Caraghan Warren all found the back of the net for South Hadley. Nora Vaughn picked up the only two assists in the game.

Amanda Stevenson made two saves for the Tigers while Amherst’s Kayla Kim had nine.

Belchertown 3, Northampton 0 — The Orioles took down the Blue Devils for the second time this fall. Lila Roy had a big offensive day by scoring twice in the third quarter and assisting on Gianna Zenon’s first quarter goal.

Addi DiBona and Madelyn Murray assisted on each of Roy’s goals. Mckaila Woishnis made three saves in net for Belchertown.

Abby Xu was busy throughout the game, stopping six shots for Northampton.

Golf

Amherst 163, Frontier 171 — The Hurricanes picked up their second win of the fall. Graham Van Geissen led the team with a low-score of 37.

McCann 170, Hopkins Academy 203 — The Golden Hawks fell at Westover Golf Course on Thursday.

Siddharth Parmar shot a team-low 48. Jessica Waskiewicz finished with a 49 as the two Hopkins golfers to break 50 on the day.

Laney Crutch (51) and Ryan MacGregor (54) rounded out the scoring for Hopkins.

Belchertown 159, Southwick 189 — The Orioles won their third straight match with a 30 stroke win over Southwick.

Andrew Wright missed out on par by a single stroke as he finished with a 37. Luke Heroux also got below 40 by shooting a 38.

Mason Pobieglo parred his first three holes and birdied the fourth hole, ended with a 41. Wesley Will rounded out the team’s scoring with a 43.

Hampshire 178, Chicopee Comp 180 — The Raiders have won 10 of their last 11 matches after a two-stroke win in Chicopee.

Brayden Fennessy shot a team-best 41 and Kam Locke finished with a 44. Collin Westcott scored a 46, while Jacob Moran and Nico Johnson tied for fourth with 47’s.

Boys soccer

PVCICS 2, Mount Everett 1 — Down by one at halftime, some lineup changes generated the scoring opportunities the Dragons needed.

Henry Tuttle found Jack Herman to tie the game in the 52nd minute. About four minutes later Herman assisted on Aiden Kailola’s go-ahead goal. Simon Doherty-Girard made two save.

The Dragons are currently 3-2-2 in the Bi-County West conference with a 3-6-2 record overall.

Belchertown 1, Minnechaug 0 — The Orioles picked up their third win in their last four games.

Ryan Lacroix scored the game’s lone goal in the first half. Andrew Lambert made five saves in net for Belchertown.

Girls soccer

Southwick 3, Amherst 1 — Bea Eggemeier scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes with Souzi Arku-Roosevelt picking up the assist.

Aliya Morales-Fernandez made nine saves as Amherst’s losing streak extended to three games.

Volleyball

Belchertown 3, Putnam 0 — The Orioles made quick work in the sweep, holding Putnam to 17 or fewer points in each set.

Cassidy MacLean led the team with eight kills while picking up one of the team’s two blocks. Analise Reed had the second block while adding five kills and three aces.

Olivia Skora tallied 25 assists and completed five digs on defense.

Harper Bean had six kills and a trio of aces. Kaiya Cavanaugh kept busy with 23 digs.

East Longmeadow 3, Easthampton 0 — The Eagles had a close first set, dropping 25-22 before faltering in the following two sets.

Kaylin Dumas led the team on both sides of the attack. She recorded team-high in kills and digs, tallying six and 13 respectively.

Brooke Skowron put up 11 assists and helped on defense with seven digs.

PVCA 3, Holyoke 1 — Kelcy Brunelle bashed 14 kills, but the Purple Knights dropped their third straight match.

Set scores were 18-25, 25-23, 18-25, 21-25 in favor of PVCA.