H.S. Roundup: Riley Florek’s hat trick leads Hampshire boys soccer past Easthampton (VIDEO)

EASTHAMPTON — During his first three years in high school, Riley Florek spent his falls with the Hampshire Regional golf team. As he entered his season year, he decided to make the jump and try out for the school’s boys soccer team to be with his friends and three relatives.

Raiders head coach Josh Wietecha could not be more grateful for the move.

Florek, the team’s leading goalscorer, recorded his first career hat trick against Easthampton on Wednesday. A pair of goals in the first half plus a penalty kick late in the game propelled the Raider’s to the 4-1 win at Nonotuck Park.

“He kind of fell into our laps,” Wietcha said. “The talent that he has without playing soccer all of high school. The way he can control the ball, pass the ball, and shoot the ball, it’s all been really good.”

Needing a win to secure a winning record, the Raiders wasted almost no time getting on the board, using just 30 seconds. Jack Cameron made a long pass to Florek outside the right corner of the goalie box. Florek made a few quick dribbles and hit a low shot under Eagles goalkeeper Lewin Coady to the opposite corner for the goal.

The Eagles, who were 3-4-3, were also desperate for a win. A minute after Hampshire took the lead, Easthampton went on the attack. Lucas Federov-Defalco found Luc Tetreault who got deep into the box and snuck a shot past Isaiah Isa to tie the game at 1-1.

After two quick goals, the game slowed down as teams traded possessions. It wasn’t until about halfway through the first half that Hampshire capitalized on a scoring opportunity.

Starting with a throw-in, Vynce Carr lobbed the ball high to Florek. With Easthampton defense shifted up, Florek headed the ball over his defender and place it out of the reach from Coady for the goal.

“We’re best friends,” said Florek about Carr. “I play off him a lot and he knows where to find me. We’re both very vocal out there.”

Carr followed with his own goal with two minutes on the score clock. Holding the ball straight on the goal at the top of the box, he patiently read his defense before making a move. He then deliberately turned to his left and fired a shot to the back of the net.

Hampshire entered halftime up 3-1.

The second half was a much more physical battle as neither team wanted to give up another goal. This led to a penalty in the box called on Easthampton after a slide tackle appeared to draw too much contact.

Already with two goals in the game, Florek was the obvious choice to take the PK. He fired a low shot to right corner with plenty of speed.

“I skyed one earlier in the season,” Florek said. “So I wanted to make sure I got the spot down and it worked out. Snuck it in there.”

Wednesday’s victory was Hampshire’s third in a row, moving to 7-2-3 with three games to play. It heads to Frontier on Friday.

Though the loss drops Easthampton to 3-5-3, the Eagles have four games to pick up some wins. Their next game is Friday at South Hadley.

Hampshire honors Maddie Schmidt

Before the game, Hampshire took time to honor Maddie Schmidt, the late younger sister of junior Patrick Schmidt, who passed away in 2022 from brain cancer. All Hampshire teams wore Maggie for Maddie shirts on what would have been her 12th birthday to help spread awareness and raise money for research against diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), an aggressive brain tumor that occurs most often in children.

“We wanted to use today to honor her and continue her legacy,” Wietecha said.

The charity run multiple events, such as a 5k this Saturday that takes place in Holyoke, as well as a 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the Spring.

Holyoke 3, Granby 1 — All three Purple Knights goals were potted during the first half in their win over the Rams.

Isiah Frazier, Nayan Tabin and Bradley Richard scored for Holyoke, while Rikendy Jean totaled three saves.

Brandon Carillon broke through with a second-half strike for Granby.

Girls soccer

Holyoke 4, Smith Voc 3 — The Vikings fell for the second time in three games in the loss to the Purple Knights.

Holyoke’s Leilany Figueroa slotted a hat trick to pace the victors while Kyra Lippman found twine as well.

Purple Knights goalie Jennaya Torres earned the win, making four saves.

Erin Miller, Evelyn Wanczyk and Savannah Fredette tallied Smith Voc’s strikes. Miller’s goal counted as her 100th career point.

Amherst 2, Easthampton 1 — The Hurricanes halted its three-game losing streak, nipping the Eagles by one.

Lucia Jacoby and Bea Eggemeier counted as Amherst’s goalscorers, while Aliya Morales-Fernandez and Mercy Pope combined for 13 saves.

Easthampton’s Sophia Madsen scored its lone goal.

Hampshire 6, Monument Mtn 0 — The Raiders cruised to victory, aided by a hat trick from Addie Miklasiewicz.

Olivia Whittaker, Katie Krause and Sammy Black also added goals for Hampshire, which picked up its 10th win of the season in the process.

Raiders goalies Karaghan Rogalski and Emilia Berrena each made two saves.

Field hockey

South Hadley 2, Belchertown 0 — The shutout pushed the Tigers’ hot streak to seven straight games without a loss.

The Orioles were blanked for the second consecutive game.

Girls volleyball

Holyke 3, Commerce 0 — The Purple Knights put an end to its three-match losing streak in style.

Kelcy Brunelle recorded 12 kills, Jadhe Cortes Rodriguez posted nine aces and Tatiana Gonzalez led Holyoke with 16 assists.

Set scores came out to 25-14, 25-15, 25-23.

Belchertown 3, West Springfield 1 — The Orioles racked up their third win in a row after downing the Terriers.

Set scores read 25-12, 22-25, 25-13, 25-15 in favor of Belchertown.

Cassidy MacLean contributed a team-high 16 kills for the O’s.

Central 3, Easthampton 0 — The Eagles couldn’t get anything going in the three-set defeat.

Brooke Skowron (13 assists, eight digs) and Eliza Scott-Smith (five kills, seven digs) were busy on the court for Easthampton.

Longmeadow 3, Amherst 0 — The Lancers shut down the Hurricanes yet again.

Amherst’s two losses this season have been to Longmeadow.

Golf

Hampshire 156, Belchertown 179 — Dueling 36s from Brayden Fennessy and Wes Adamski powered the Raiders past the Orioles at Blandford Country Club.

Cole Boissonneault and Kam Locke each shot 42 to round out Hampshire’s score.

Andrew Wright paced Belchertown with a 41.

Longmeadow 137, Minnechaug 146, South Hadley 183 — The Tigers fell in their regular-season finale at Ledges Golf Course.

Ryley McMahon shot the low round of the match for South Hadley, carding a 40.

Turners Falls 172, Hopkins 179 — The Golden Hawks lost a close match to the Thunder at Westover Golf Course.

Jessica Waskiewicz led Hopkins with a 43 while Jack Rathbun (44), Siddharth Parmar (44) and John Siano (48) followed.

Late Tuesday Results

Girls soccer

Granby 5, Palmer 1 — The Rams raced out to a four-goal lead in the first half and never looked back in the victory over the Panthers.

Kalli White (two goals) and Marcela Tapia (goal, assist) were Granby’s top point-getters.

Athol 4, Holyoke 2 — The Purple Knights dropped their third straight game in the loss to the Bears.

Leilany Figueroa and Kyra Lippman potted Holyoke’s goals.

Girls volleyball

Smith Voc 3, Pope Francis 2 — The Vikings outlasted the Cardinals, taking Tuesday’s marathon match.

Set scores came out to 23-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-21, 25-23 in Smith Voc’s favor.

Hecmarie Diaz-Lopez (11 aces, kill, assist, 17 digs) and Ainsley Chrzanowski (ace, kills, 20 assists, dig) were key to victory for the Vikings.

Cross country

Easthampton 21, Westfield Tech 38 (boys)
Easthampton 24, Westfield Tech 36 (girls) — The Eagles swept their dual meet at Nonotuck Park on Tuesday.

Easthampton’s Will Jourdain won the boys race in 18 minutes, 59 seconds, while Gwen Banz was the Eagles’ best finisher in the girls race, taking second place in 21:48.

Otto Ewing (19:17) and Otto Koen (19:21) placed in the top five in the boys race and Sabine Ritchie (23:22) and Amelia Dodge (23:54) finished top five in the girls race for Easthampton.

Ludlow 18, Northampton 41 (boys)
Northampton 24, Ludlow (girls) — Five runners in the top eight led the Blue Devils girls’ team to victory at Ray Ellerbrook Field.

Mairead O’Neil won the race in 23:48 for Northampton, before Margaret Little (25:28), Miriam Poe (26:07), Olive Chang (26:43) and Lucy Camp (26:45) followed.

The Blue Devils boys were led by Elliot Frankl (20:11), Marcelo Flajnik-Palladino (20:29) and Ethan Arsenault (21:22) who took fifth through seventh place.

Bob Glennon Twilight Meet

Both Northampton squads earned top-three finishes at the Bob Glennon Twilight Meet this past Saturday.

Mairead O’Neil nabbed fourth place in the girls race 17:56, while Shea O’Neil grabbed 17th place in the boys race in 16:10.

Tri-Meet

Holyoke’s Ryan Peralta Jesurum won the boys race in 20:24 at Ashley Resevoir between the Purple Knights, Duggan Academy and Putnam on Tuesday.

Anthony Armstrong was close behind, taking third place in 21:35.