SOUTH HADLEY – Elyse Manzi took advantage of the South Hadley girls soccer team’s constant green light.
The ball popped out of a scrum, and she knew she didn’t have time for a touch so she let it fly. Her shot curved over all of the players in the box and dipped down into the Hampshire Regional net for the opening goal of Wednesday’s Western Massachusetts Class B girls soccer semifinals.
“Their defenders were getting good at stepping up quick,” Manzi said. “So I just took a look and hit it with my foot.”
Manzi’s 24th minute strike broke a scoreless tie and powered the second-seeded Tigers to a 3-0 victory over No. 3 Hampshire. South Hadley advanced to its fourth consecutive sectional final with the victory. The Tigers won the past three, including a state championship in 2019. They’ll face No. 1 Belchertown for the crown Saturday. The Orioles took down Chicopee 2-1 in the other semifinal.
“As a senior, my freshman year through my senior year I’ve been to a Western Mass. championship. It feels great to be able to be there again,” Manzi said. “This team’s young, and they know how important it is for everybody. We’re up for it.”
Hampshire was up for the start of the semifinal. The Raiders invaded South Hadley’s end from the jump, amassing four corners in the first five minutes. They kept the stress on the Tigers net and South Hadley keeper Drew Alley for the first 10 minutes, largely though Bri Salomao’s runs up the right side of the field. Alley finished with eight saves in the clean sheet.
But none of those pushes produced a goal.
“We had never beaten this team. I said before the game we needed to come out strong and focused, and they did that,” Hampshire coach Steven Croft said. “Against a qualify opponent, if you don’t capitalize on your opportunities, you get a result like what happened.”
After the first 15 minutes, the Tigers took over the midfield. They held the ball in Hampshire’s end and created chances until Manzi broke through.
Seven minutes later, Lauren Marjanski tucked home a first-time shot in the box from Emma Sanford to make it 2-0.
“It’s one of those things that happened to us last game against Monument, then the girls answered it,” South Hadley coach Rich Marjanski said. “It’s like we’ve got to go in slowly, then we started to control the play.”
Not much separated the teams in the second half, but Maddie Soderbaum tapped in a rebound in the 76th minute to put a bow on the victory. Marjanski fired the initial shot after controlling a long pass with her head.
“We always work on crosses and stuff like that and getting the ball and getting rebounds because we’ve had goalies all throughout the season bobble the ball,” Manzi said. “Even if it’s a great goalie, they’re gonna let something in, so we just get the ball outside and hit it in.”
Hampshire keeper Makena Rogalski stopped 12 shots.
Unlike in previous seasons, a sectional semifinal loss doesn’t end Hampshire’s season. The Raiders have qualified for the MIAA’s inaugural statewide tournament and were ranked No. 6 in Division 4 at the start of the week.
“Any chance we have to play a playoff game gives us experience and it can only benefit going into the state tournament,” Croft said.
South Hadley will be there, too, but in the Division 3 tournament. But first, they have another Western Mass. final to focus on. The Orioles haven’t lost this season, and the Tigers fell 1-0 against them late in the regular season.
“They haven’t lost a game yet to anybody, which is great,” Rich Marjanski said. “We’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kylegrbwsk.