SOUTH HADLEY – Not even halfway through the first half of the MIAA Division 4 state quarterfinals, the top-seeded South Hadley girls soccer team found itself in a 2-0 hole against No. 8 West Bridgewater on its home turf.
The Tigers were late to the party on Sunday evening, but when they arrived, they arrived in style.
Lauren Marjanski answered the Wildcats’ second goal only 12 seconds later – her first of five points on the evening – to officially open the floodgates. South Hadley scored the next six unanswered goals before giving up a late score to defeat West Bridgewater 6-3 and advance to the program’s first state semifinal game since 2019 when the Tigers won the Division 3 title.
South Hadley will play No. 4 Lynnfield at Doyle Field in Leominster on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.
“We definitely had to keep the intensity up,” Lauren Marjanski said of the early deficit. “We’ve been in these situations where we’re down before, so we know what it’s like. We just had to fight back and want it.”
The second of Marjanski’s four Sunday goals came with one minute and 45 seconds left in the first half. South Hadley had plenty of chances to score throughout the first 40 minutes but couldn’t bury its opportunities. That’s why the tying goal was so important.
All momentum and confidence swayed to the Tigers sideline when Allison Fleury found Marjanski for the score. It was a whole new ballgame with the score knotted up 2-2 heading into the break.
“It was good to answer right back when we were down 2-0,” South Hadley head coach Rich Marjanski said. “And then to get the second goal with less than two minutes to go in the second half to tie it, it’s a big relief. We made mistakes defensively, but it was a brand new game, 2-2. [We had to] take advantage of that and win the next 40 [minutes].”
One minute into the second frame, Marjanski tallied her hat trick off a nice feed from Cianna Gurek. The tally was one of three goals in just eight minutes of second-half action. The other two came from Gurek (assisted by Marjasnki) and once again Marjanski, who has now scored multiple goals in more than half of South Hadley’s contests.
She used her strength and speed to her advantage on Sunday.
“After we got going and I figured out how their defense played me, I was able to use that to my advantage,” Lauren Marjanski said. “I focused a lot on using my body to find space to finish.”
Marjanski has now scored 40 goals this year alone, an unbelievable mark. Rich Marjanski, her father, has seen first hand all season how much Lauren and the senior class want to hoist a state championship trophy at the end of the tournament – and she’s willing to take matters into her own hands (or feet, for that matter) to get there.
“It’s her senior year. Final eight. We got beat last year in the final eight, this is one of those things where I think she just wanted to take the team and move forward,” Rich Marjanski said. “We have seven seniors on the team, and they just wanna win.”
Maddie Soderbaum capped off the Tigers scoring in the 59th minute with a blast from well outside the 18 that snuck below the cross bar. Katherine McArdle picked up the assist, her second of the night.
Rich Marjanski called a timeout after the very first goal West Bridgewater scored. He noticed a trend in the Wildcats’ defense and saw the long balls over the top were consistently getting through and generating quality looks. That was the plan of attack from that point on, which led to South Hadley’s barrage of scoring.
“We knew they were a very offensive team, they send a lot of girls forward,” Rich Marjanski said. “I pretty much just told the girls to relax a little bit. We were gonna get our chances, it was just a matter of putting it in the back of the net. We were beating them a lot over the top because they kinda play a little flat in the back. I knew our speed up top would help us in the long run.”
Nobody on this year’s Tigers roster has ever made it this far in the state tournament. South Hadley fell in the quarterfinal round in 2022, but it got over that hump Sunday.
The team is eager to show what its capable of on the big stage.
“Since I’ve been at South Hadley, we haven’t made it to the final four, so it’s great,” Lauren Marjanski said. “I can’t wait. I know we’re all really excited.”
If South Hadley wants to reclaim its spot at the top, Marjanski knows his team needs to play better in the middle – the most important are of the field to control in soccer. The Tigers weren’t crisp enough for his liking on Sunday. To beat a very good Lynnfield team, everybody needs to be on their A-game from start to finish, and another slow start must be avoided.
“I think we could do a better job in the middle,” Rich Marjanski said. “Offensively, I thought we did a great job getting the ball out wide and crossing the ball. It’s just a matter of finding feet and winning the middle better. We need to focus more on possessing.”
