High schools: Hopkins Academy girls soccer team bounces back from first loss, blanks Greenfield
Published: 10-23-2024 8:57 PM |
GREENFIELD — Four different players recorded a goal – all in the first half – for the Hopkins Academy girls soccer team on Wednesday afternoon, as the Golden Hawks bounced back from their first loss of the season on Tuesday with a decisive 4-0 road win over Greenfield.
Hopkins head coach Vincent Catania wasn’t upset with his team following a defeat to Monson on Tuesday. Instead, he used it as a learning lesson for his group. With the postseason looming large, Catania was just happy his team got the loss out of the way now. And on the bus ride up to Franklin County and during pregame warm ups, he saw a different level of focus and intensity that’s only going to help them moving forward.
“Honestly, [Tuesday’s] loss didn’t really feel like a loss,” Catania said. “It was exactly what we needed this time of year before tournament. To have a good battle against a good team like Monson right before the tournament is only going to benefit us in the long run. We were definitely a little sore today, but we learned a lot from that loss and we were really focused today.”
Sadie Cyr kicked off the scoring early on in the first half, as she finished on a pass from Ephie Vissas to put the visitors up 1-0. Maggie Potter netted one soon after to double the lead, this time Helen Vissas recording the assist. Helen Vissas then added a goal of her own, using her body to redirect a corner kick into the net on the back post. Her sister Ephie Vissas was the one who took the corner kick to tally her second assist of the day.
Avery Fillio made it 4-0 Golden Hawks late in the second half, as she took a pass from Zoey Wojtowicz and ran down the right sideline. Fillio cut in toward goal and snuck a beautiful shot by Green Wave goalie Annie Cobileanschi on the short side.
The onslaught from Hopkins (14-1-1) showed just how dangerous its offense can be when clicking on all cylinders. The Golden Hawks have seven players with seven or more points this fall.
“It definitely helps having multiple players who contribute,” Catania said. “The first thing I do before games is look at the other team’s stats to see who’s scoring all the goals and then we make a plan to keep an eye on that player. But when you have multiple people, it makes it hard to zero in on someone. Moving the ball around, getting everyone involved and them attacking from wherever they can is how we like to play.”
In the second half, Greenfield started to pick up its intensity. Neither team scored in the second half, but the Green Wave started to possess the ball more, and even had a great chance to score when Tayler Bergeron rifled a shot from just inside the box barely over the crossbar.
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Defensively, Greenfield began to settle in, as did Cobileanschi in the box. She recorded a baker’s dozen 13 saves to keep Hopkins off the board in the second half.
Green Wave head coach Ben Johnson appreciated his team’s effort over the final 40 minutes, and they’re going to have to play to that level moving forward in the postseason.
“Hopkins is one of the best teams we’ve seen all year, so the second half was much better,” Johnson said. “We adjusted a lot better from the way we’re used to playing in our league, and that’s the way we’re gonna have to play in tournament. More possession is gonna be needed, and when you get to this point, we’re not the biggest, fastest or strongest team anymore. There are a lot of good teams out there that we’re gonna have to compete against and this was a good test for us.”
Emmy Schmidt recorded five saves for Hopkins (14-1-1), which is likely to be the No. 2 seed in the Western Mass. Class D tournament and will host a quarterfinal matchup when the tournament starts next week.
Greenfield (13-3) will be in the Class C tournament, its seed is still to be determined.
Hopkins 2, Gateway 0 — Neil McFarlane netted both goals for the Golden Hawks in a shutout win over the Gators on Wednesday afternoon. Nicholas Cain and Chase Simonich each tallied assists.
Hopkins keeper Logan Bye made two saves while Gateway goalie Elijah Chepurenko recorded eight.
Girls soccer
Belchertown 4, Tantasqua 3 — Four different goal scorers propelled the Orioles to a high-scoring win over Tantasqua on Tuesday, with Fallon Clancy, Avery Cooper, Brianna Ribeiro and Isabella Vozzella tallying for Belchertown.
Ribeiro and Clancy each added assists while goalie Jill DeBarge made seven saves in the win, putting her over 250 total saves for her career.
Boys soccer
Minnechaug 4, South Hadley 0 — Noah Carillon made a whopping 18 saves in the box for the Tigers, but their offense couldn’t get going in a shutout loss to Minnechaug on Tuesday.
Falcons forward Matt Ryan netted a pair of goals.