Girls soccer: Pioneer turns Paige on Pope Francis

NORTHFIELD — The Pioneer Valley Regional girls soccer team was looking for one breakthrough in Monday’s game against Pope Francis.

The Panthers and the Cardinals were scoreless into the midway point of the second half. While Pioneer had dominated in possession, the Panthers were unable to capitalize on itheir opportunities in a Pioneer South contest.

That was until the 59th minute, as a Panther corner kick bounced back to Jordin Hubbard, who fired it into the box. Paige Loughman collected the bouncing ball and turned, where she found only Pope Francis goalie Sofia Roselli between her and the net. Loughman dribbled in and smashed a shot past Roselli into the bottom right corner of the goal to give Pioneer a 1-0 lead that held until the end of the game to give the Panthers a win in their season-opener.

“Last season, our biggest weakness was finishing,” Pioneer coach Nikki Pullen said. “We’ve been working a lot on that. We moved around a little bit, we changed our formation a little bit, we have Paige up front now as a striker. She has that point guard mindset, she wants to score. I’m happy with her up there.”

Pope Francis and the Panthers met during the preseason in a scrimmage, where the Cardinals came away with a 1-0 win against a Pioneer squad that was missing four players.

In the scrimmage, Pope Francis dominated possession, but that wasn’t the case on Monday.

“We saw this team in the scrimmage,” Pullen said. “We were down a few players, but we’ve been looking good in practice. I’m really happy with that first half even though we couldn’t finish. We had 70 percent of the possession in the first. The second half, it was more 50/50 in possession but we capitalized in the end.”

Pope Francis had a few chances on net, but quality looks were few and far between. The Cardinals had three good looks with shots in close, but missed the net each time.

Outside of that, the Panthers defense was smothering.

When a Pope Francis attack looked promising, a Pioneer defender swooped in and stole the ball. On corners, the Panthers quickly cleared the ball out of danger, leading to transition opportunities on the other end of the field.

Pullen credits the strong defensive play to the leadership of Hubbard, a senior captain, in the back end.

“We’ve been working a lot on counter attacks,” Pullen said. “Jordin Hubbard is an absolute force. She’s a real leader on and off the field. She plays like three defenders. We’ve had her back there since she was in eighth grade. She’s consistent, she’s always so consistent. She’s such a smart player, too.”

Another player who stepped up in the back end was junior Skyler Cohen. Like Hubbard, Cohen was all over the field, coming up with stops defensively and clearing the ball with ease. 

Heading into the season, Pullen was unsure who would step up and play next to Hubbard on defense, but she has seen growth from Cohen to make her feel confident having the junior out there.

“We love Skyler,” Pullen said. “Skyler’s really quiet, but she’s awesome. She reminds me of those toys that have string joints and you push it and they collapse but get right back up. That’s literally her. She never falls, she’s so resilient. She’s so positive, too. I wish everyone was like that.”

After graduating Leah Fuess, who had been the Pioneer goalie the past five seasons, there was a big void in net. In stepped junior Anna Picard, who had never played soccer before but showed enough athletic promise to be given a shot in goal. In her first career game, Picard recorded the shutout and finished with nine saves.

Having a deep roster, Pullen was able to get her entire bench in the game, giving valuable playing experience to younger players.

“This is the first game, everyone got in subbing, I don’t think I’ve done that before,” Pullen said. “The fact that I see ninth graders coming up and I can put them where I need to feels good. I was happy, obviously, other than our finishing.”

The Panthers take on Franklin Tech Thursday, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. 

Pioneer 1, Pope Francis 0

Goals: (P) Loughman.

Assists: (P) Hubbard.

Saves: (PF) Roselli 8. (P) Picard 9.