SPRINGFIELD — Minnechaug advanced to the Western Massachusetts Division I championship after defeating Agawam, 4-0, at Springfield Central High School Tuesday night.
Behind Emily Howard’s two-goal performance and Katie Russell’s 10 saves, Minnechaug dominated on the offensive end, scoring two goals in each half.
The win pegs Minnechaug against No. 2 Westfield in a sectional semifinal game on Nov. 16. The contest will take place back at Central with a 6:30 p.m. start time.
The Falcons got rolling early with their offense stealing the show in the opening minutes.
Lobbing a pass over the top, Katie Shea started a fast break, and Howard’s blazing speed gave her some separation. After outrunning defenders, Howard shot a laser to the bottom of the net to give Minnechaug (17-1) an early 1-0 lead fewer than two minutes into the game.
Almost 10 minutes later, Shea kicked off another scoring play, this time crossing a defender in the middle of the field and giving an accurate leading pass to Gabby Williams, who scored in front of Agawam’s net. The score extended Minnechaug’s lead to 2-0 and put Agawam (11-7-2) in an early hole with 27 minutes remaining in the first half.
After jumping out to an early lead in the first half, Minnechaug coach Nundi Goncalves applauded his team’s energy from the start of the semifinal. With their only loss coming from a 1-0 defeat to Agawam, Goncalves acknowledged the importance of setting the tone early.
“When we played them the first time, they scored the only goal and we just chased them the whole game," Goncalves said. "Today we scored the first goal. It kind of calmed us down a little bit and it got them a little excited like ‘hold on, we have to chase the game, now we really have to push it.' Chase the game, and I think that first goal early was a backbreaker, I think it was. You always want to get that first one, it’s nice.”
Unlike the beginning of the first half, both teams failed to score early in the second half after a series of big stops from both teams. That changed once Minnechaug earned a corner kick with just over 18 minutes left in the game.
Set up in the corner, Chapin Jeannotte lofted a perfect feed to Isabelle Fergus in front of the net. The sophomore did the rest to extend the Falcons’ lead to 3-0.
Although the Falcons held a convincing lead, their offense wasn’t done. Only a minute later, Howard scored her second goal of the game. Weaving around defenders, Howard uncontested, easily kicked the ball into the netting to give her team a commanding 4-0 lead with 17 minutes left.
Proud of what Howard has accomplished over her three years with the team, Goncalves praised both her impact and development.
“It’s like night and day between freshmen to today. She’s just amazing. Fast, she holds onto the ball well, she sees the field. So happy for her,” he said. “There’s a reason why they voted her, the coaches voted her All-New England and I think she’s one of the better players in Western Mass and she’s proved it.”
Given another scoring opportunity with nine minutes left in the game, Howard got a great chance to earn a hat-trick. Outrunning defenders, Howard’s shot unfortunately bounced off both posts and out, leaving the score at 4-0. After running out the clock, Minnechaug got the revenge they were looking for, advancing to the championship round.
While there’s plenty of excitement building for Minnechaug in hopes of winning a championship, Goncalves said his team is taking the championship game as “another game to play."
The Falcons last one the Western Mass. title in 2015.
“We’ll talk about it on the way home and we’ll figure out at practice who we’re going to play, and we have a lot of good players,” he said. “This team is really fun to be with, so I can’t say enough about them. I really can’t.”