Hurricanes Post Shutout Win in State Tournament
CHESHIRE, Mass. – Savannah Warner scored the game-winner with a rocket from the left wing, and Isabella Klose earned a shutout in goal Saturday as the Hoosac Valley girls soccer team defeated Collegiate Charter of Lowell, 3-0, in the preliminary round of the Division 5 State Tournament.
Emma Zieminski and Elizabeth Kurley each scored a goal for the 32nd-seeded Hurricanes, who advance to face No. 1 Granby on Monday afternoon for a spot in the Sweet 16.
Hoosac Valley, which started the year with a record of 1-9-2, improved to 3-4 in its last seven games and ran its record to 4-13-2.
The game-winning goal came in the 14th minute off a corner kick.
Warner went to the left-wing corner and sent the ball into the 18, where Peyton Choquette, who sent it back to a wide-open Warner. Warner then one-touched a shot that lofted over the keeper and into the far corner of the goal to make it 1-0.
“It was a beautiful shot,” Hoosac Valley coach Lindsay McGinnis said. “She’s been itching to get that goal all season.
“She’s really great on my back line. I need her defensively. But she’s really great up there as well.”
Klose made all three of her saves in the first half. She ended up playing about 65 minutes in goal to keep a clean sheet in her final outing on her home field.
“Bella is our lone soldier for a senior year, and she played keeper most of the game, but that’s not her true position,” McGinnis said. “She has stepped up when we had two goalies injured, and she’s been amazing back there.
“So I was just happy to be able to get her out of the net for the last 15 minutes so she could kick the ball around on this field.”
Hoosac Valley went into half time with a one-goal lead but just a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal.
In the second half, however, the Hurricanes were dominant, outshooting the Wolves, 13-0, and finishing twice.
The game’s second goal came in the 42nd minute, when Ava Rossi set up Elizabeth Kurley to double Hoosac Valley’s lead.
Then, midway through the second half, Kendall Moran intercepted a Collegiate clear in the middle of the field and sent the ball to Zieminski on the right side. Zieminski dribbled into the 18 and fired a shot that went off the keeper’s fingertips and into the back of the goal to make it 3-0.
“The talk [at half-time] really came a lot from them and what they knew that they needed to do on the field,” McGinnis said of the Hurricanes’ second-half dominance. “They felt that they were playing down, and they wanted to step it up. And they did it.”
Now, Hoosac Valley will need to step up again to face Granby, the reigning Western Massachusetts Class D Champion and a 2025 state finalist.
At least it’s a familiar foe. The Hurricanes dropped a 4-0 decision at the Rams in the Western Mass quarter-finals back on Oct. 27.
“Our last game at Granby, we held off Granby for 68 minutes,” McGinnis said. “They’re itching to get back on that field and do better.”
Photos from this game to come.