ORANGE — With offensive opportunities sparse, the Mahar girls soccer team needed a mistake from Hoosac Valley in the first round of the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament.
The Hurricanes didn’t make any of significance and the Senators lost, 4-1, at the Woodward Complex on Friday afternoon.
“We didn’t have many opportunities,” Mahar coach Chad Softic said. “The counterattack just weren’t there and we were struggling in the midfield to win balls.”
The No. 10 Hurricanes (8-7-3) swarmed Delaney Parker with a physical brand of defense led by Alie Mendel. Hoosac’s Lily Boudreau shadowed Parker throughout the game.
Through balls just didn’t get through against the stout defense of Hoosac Valley. If Parker had the ball with the field condensed, there were multiple defenders around her on most occasions.
“They certainly deserved to win,” Softic said. “It’s been a struggle to score lately.”
Parker broke through with under two minutes left in the game with an assist from Emma Savoy.
Marie Nottleson kept the No. 7 Senators (14-5) close in the first half and made eight saves in the game.
Amanda Calderon, Mollie Burke, Emma Currier, Alyssa Rousseau, Sophia Apteker, Jeanne Grutchfield, Lani DeDiego, Abby Bonk, Tori Tenney, Mykela Thomas, Jazmyn Vautour, Sarah Graeff, Mari Mannino and Nottleson all played their last game for the Mahar soccer program.
“It’s been such a journey,” Tenney said. “Not just on the field but off the field. We are always proud at the end of the day. I’m going to miss coming to school looking forward to spending time with my teammates.”
Hoosac’s Sydni Jamross took advantage of a misplay in Mahar’s defensive end to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead in the first half.
Shaleigh Levesque scored two consecutive goals in the second half to make it 3-0.
Claudia Bresett made it 4-0 late in the game before Parker’s goal for the Senators.
Grace Kronik made four saves for the Hurricanes.
Monument Mountain 4, Athol 1 — Aubrey Blanchard scored two goals as the Spartans halted the Red Raiders’ season in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 first round in Great Barrington.
No. 4 Monument (13-4-1) led 2-0 at halftime. Maya Cooney and Fiona Horan also scored in the victory, which sent the Spartans into the quarterfinals.
Athol (9-10), which won its final three games of the season to qualify for the postseason, got on the board late when Madelyn Robertson found the back of the net.
The 13th-seeded Red Raiders received 10 saves in net from Haley Wrigley.
Shelby Mailloux played her last game for Athol.
Easthampton 4, Mahar 0 — The fourth-seeded Eagles (16-2-1) scored all four goals in the first half as they cruised to the win at Williston Northampton.
The No. 13 Senators (10-6-3) managed one shot on goal and that was saved by Drew Caires.
Nic Soucy, Adam Johndrow, Dylan Schmidt and Henry Ferland scored for Easthampton.
Chris Williams, Mohamed Zabir and Tyler Karakula each had one assist.
Mahar goalie Logan Dodge made 10 saves.
