The relative value, or lack thereof, of a high seed isn’t lost on the Hampshire Regional boys soccer team.
The Raiders are the top seed in the Divison 3 Western Mass tournament, announced Wednesday, and will await the winner of No. 8 Palmer and No. 9 Athol in the quarterfinals.
“It’s a lot of recognition for a lot of hard work this season, but we know it’s only a seed and doesn’t guarantee anything,” Hampshire senior Matt Babyak said.
They were the No. 2 seed last year and lost 4-3 to Monument Mountain at home in the quarterfinals. Hampshire (13-2-1) brought back 12 players from that team and eight seniors.
“Some of it we use as motivation, us being a team full of seniors a lot of us have been through that,” Babyak said. “We’re a new team that plays differently. We work well together, and we’re excited for the tournament.”
Hampshire won six of its final seven games before dropping a 3-1 decision against Southwick to close the regular season.
“Right now we’re doing a lot of game planning trying to perfect things,” Babyak said. “We know our fitness and technique and everything have to be perfect.”
Frontier Regional (10-3-4) experienced a perfect ending last season. The defending sectional champs in Division 3 are the No. 4 seed and will face either No. 5 Pope Francis or No. 12 Putnam.
“We feel really good about getting the four-seed, and we’re excited about hosting the quarterfinal game,” Frontier coach Dale Totman said. “It’s been a goal of ours to host a playoff game since we moved up divisions seven years ago.”
The Red Hawks are unbeaten in their last seven contests dating back to Oct. 7.
“We’re playing our best soccer right now and the belief within this team is high,” Totman said.
Frontier brought back four starters from last year’s title team but lost 13 seniors. The Red Hawks knocked off four-time defending champion Belchertown in the semifinals last year.
The Orioles (10-7-1) return to the tournament as the third seed. They’ll play either Drury or Mahar in the quarterfinals.
Belchertown enters the tournament on a three-game losing streak all against tournament-qualified teams.
Granby finished the regular season on a 14-game winning streak.
The Rams are the No. 3 seed in Division 4 behind No. 1 Monson, the defending state champion, and No. 2 Lenox, the team the Mustangs beat in the Western Mass final.
Monson (13-4-1) also knocked Granby (16-2-0) out of the semifinals last year.
The Rams will face No. 6 Mt. Everett in the quarterfinals Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Granby.
“I thought that was fair seeding,” Granby coach Todd Dorman siad. “Particularly with the way we finished with Gateway on Monday night, we’re right where we needed to be. I think that’s good momentum.”
Gateway earned the No. 5 seed and will play No. 4 Renaissance Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Central in the quarterfinals.
The Gators (10-5-3) lost 2-0 against the Phoenix on Oct. 25 and 1-0 on Sept. 12.
Hopkins Acadmey (7-9-2) qualified as the seventh seed and will host No. 10 Pioneer Regional in the opening round at a time to be determined.
Neither Amherst nor Northampton earned a first-round bye into the quarterfinals.
The No. 7 Hurricanes will host No. 10 Commerce Saturday at 4 p.m. Amherst (8-7-2) only has one win in its last four games.
Northampton (6-8-4), seeded ninth, reached the playoffs for a second consecutive season after a four-year drought. The Blue Devils will visit No. 8 Agawam Saturday at 4:30 p.m.