NORTHAMPTON — On Tuesday night, the Northampton girls soccer team experienced something for the first time all season: a losing streak.
After a surprising 1-0 loss to West Springfield on Sunday, the Blue Devils entered a tough fight against Pope Francis at home. A speedy Cardinal frontline put pressure on Northampton’s defense all night. Despite seeing improvement from the Westside loss, the Blue Devils dropped their second match of the season 5-1.
“Honestly we started to play a little but more the way we wanted to play,” said Northampton head coach Vanessa Butynski said. “We were knocking the ball, playing a little quick with one-two touch. We were finding outside mids. I think we were able to apply a lot of things that we’ve been trying to do against a very solid opponent.”
The Pope Francis duo of Rylan Waskiewicz and Mila Dillard gave Northampton all sorts of trouble throughout the night.
Waskiewiez scored her first of two goals midway through the first half to put the Cardinals up 1-0.
Minutes later, on another breakaway, a Cardinals player collided with Northampton’s Annalise Oravec as the goalkeeper slid to stop the ball in the box. Oravec hit her head and was slow to get up. She was able to walk off the field. She returned later in the second half after being cleared by the trainer.
In her absence, freshman Emily Medlock saw her first actions of the season. She allowed one goal in her time in net, also to Waskiewiez
Dillard scored twice as well, both in the second half. Northampton’s back line spent a lot of time chasing the duo around.
“We were trying to look at it like, before she gets the ball can we stop the ball from coming to her,” Butynski said. “Then when she does have the ball, can we have immediate pressure?”
Northampton got a glimmer of hope when two freshmen connected for a goal. Mille Gaffney sent a leading pass that allowed Isla Claps to get around her defender, dribble into the box and beat the goalkeeper to make the score 3-1 with about 17 minutes left.
The Cardinals continued to attack and scored twice in the final 15 minutes. Oravec made multiple diving saves, only for Pope Francis to secure the deflection and connect on the second chance.
The Cardinals came into the game ranked No. 2 in the MIAA Power Rankings for Division 3. Two of their four losses came to teams outside of the state.
“I think it was a pretty positive night,” Butynski said. “Obivously Pope is a solid program, but I think we are taking the good from it. I know it was 5-1, but I felt at times we really possessed, created, and kept it in the offensive end and had opportunities.
With two games remaining, Northampton is 11-2-1 and secured first place in the Kurty/Fielding league standings. The team’s next game is Thursday at Amherst.
Cross country
Gateway 15, Veritas Prep 50; Gateway 15, St. Mary’s 50 (Girls) — Senior Anya Niles won her 20th career race on Monday as the Gators swept their tri-meet to clinch the Pioneer South League Championship title.
Niles timed in at 22:40 with five teammates finishing behind her in a row. Ava Christie arrived about two minutes later at 22:57 for second place. Charlotte Hansen (third, 24:57) Lila Castro (fourth, 25:26), and Laurel DeMoss (fifth, 25:34) all crossed the finish line under 26 minutes.
Aspen Fenton was the sixth Gateway runner to finish at 26:34 for sixth place.
Gateway finishes the regular season at 13-2.
PVCICS 22, Mohawk 35 (Girls) — The Lady Dragons controlled the front of the pack by finishing four of the top five runners on Monday.
Ella Maier led PVCICS with a second place finish at 18:56. Astrid Knyt was not far behind, arriving third in 19:08, Adelaid Amias (fourth, 19:18) and Eunice Lo (fifth, 19:36) both came in the top-5.
Althea Turner rounded out the scoring for PVCICS, clocking in at 21:03 for eighth.
PVICIS 18, Mohawk 43 (Boys) — Grafton Tolopko pulled out another win to lead the Dragons on Monday with a time of 15:02. The victory brought the Dragons to a 19-3 record.
Ayden Klatte also finished under 16 minutes, coming right under 15:58 and taking second place. The trio of Kristof Knyt (fourth, 16:06) Stephen Sims (fifth, 16:15) and Adolphus Yap (sixth, 16:25) rounded out the top six runners.
Hampshire 15, Frontier 46 (Girls) — Farrah Lemay was the top finisher for the Redhawks in the loss to the Raiders. Lemay finished in sixth place (20:43) for Frontier. Louise Flagollet was the next finisher for Frontier, placing eighth (21:13).
Boys soccer
SICS 4, Granby 0 — The Rams had trouble trying to stop SICS on Monday. Gage Carter and Oliver Helbok combined for 6 saves in net for Granby.
Field hockey
Smith Academy 1, Franklin Tech 0 — Sophia Jagodzinski’s goal turned into the game winner for the Falcons. Bella Gavron assisted on the goal.
Chloe Avery stopped nine shots in the shutout. Smith Academy improved to 5-4-2.
Hampshire 2, Mahar 1 — The Raiders came back to beat the Senators at the Woodward Complex. Mahar got a goal from Adeena Maselli, assisted by Carly Paluk, before the Raiders scored twice in the second and third quarters to secure the win. Bella Burnett made 38 saves for the Senators.
Volleyball
Smith Vocational 3, Southwick 0 — A 25-5 win in the first set opened a dominant night for the Vikings.
Irelyn Marcoux led the squad with 11 kills and had four aces. Edna Cruz was dominant by serving up eight aces and connecting for six kills.
Ainsley Chrzanowski and Leah Franklin combined for 25 assists. Hecmarie Diaz Lopez stayed busy on defense with 12 digs.
Late Monday scores
Boys soccer
SICS 1, Easthampton 0 — The Eagles lost a nailbiter to the 12-1-2 Bulldogs. A second-half goal proved to be the difference in the game. Easthampton finishes the regular season on Wednesday against Westfield.
Chicopee Comp. 4, Granby 3 — After a 1-0 halftime deficit, Granby battled by scoring three second-half goals against Comp. Unfortunately for the Rams, the Colts’ attack was too much.
Gabe Helbok led Granby with two goals. Brandon Carillon scored and added an assist. Conor Callery chipped in with an assist as well.
Gaje Carter made six saves for the Rams.
Belchertown 2, Frontier 2 — After a scoreless first half, the two teams combined for four second-half scores on Monday.
Grayson Bishop scored the first goal of the game with an assist by Seb Migeon to give Frontier a 1-0 lead. Ryan Lacroix scored on a penalty kick to tie the game at one. The Orioles briefly took the lead on a Liam Verrochi goal on a pass from Adam Stahl. Frontier’s Xavier Fripp tied the game 2-2 later in the half.
Frontier’s Mason Weis and Belchertown’s Andrew Lambert each made five saves.
Amherst 3, South Hadley 1— The Hurricanes picked up an impressive win over the Tigers. Amherst won its third straight game and is 3-0-2 in its last five games.
Chris Sotiropoulis assisted on Peter Barone’s goal for the lone score for South Hadley. Xzavies Rosario saved eight shots.
Girls soccer
East Longmeadow 1, South Hadley 0 — The Tigers suffered their third loss of the season in a tight contest. Goalkeeper Olivia Athas stopped seven shots on eight attempts for South Hadley. The Tigers’ last game of the regular season is Wednesday at Hampshire.
Amherst 8, Palmer 0 — Amherst had its largest win of the season on Monday. Bea Eggemeier tallied a season-high four goals.
Maeve Fitzgerald scored and added two assists. Aliya Morales-Fernandez also had a multi-point game with a goal and an assist.
Nora Hanna and Chelah Schwartz scored in the win. Morales-Fernandez and Mercy Pope combined for seven saves.
Volleyball
Easthampton 3, West Springfield 0 — The Eagles swept Westside with relative ease on Monday. Easthampton won by scores of 25-17, 25-16, 25-17.
Kathryn Koval led the team with six kills. Kaylin Dumas and Camilla Corsello each added four. Corsello had the Eagles’ only block.
Summer Routhier and Isabel Gilman both recorded six digs while combining for seven aces. Setter Brooker Skowron had 14 assists.
Chicopee Comp 3, Holyoke 0 — The Purple Knights fell to the Colts for the second time this fall.
Kelcy Brunelle led Holyoke with seven kills and two blocks. Roxangely Maldonado Rivera added five of her own.
Tatiana Gonzalez passed efficiently with 11 assists. Nemesis Torres Sanchez completed 10 digs in the match.
