Last season, the South Hadley girls soccer team was ranked No. 1 in Division 4 and made it all the way to the state championship game, where it ultimately fell 2-1 to Sutton. On that roster, the Tigers had seven seniors – including South Hadley’s all-time leading points scorer, Lauren Marjanski.

Tigers head coach Rich Marjanski understandably didn’t have as high of hopes coming into this fall after losing the bulk of his production and leadership from 2023, but as the season began to unfold, he realized this team could be just as good.

And for the third consecutive year, South Hadley has found itself playing for a spot in the Final Four. The seventh-seeded Tigers will take on No. 2 Hamilton-Wenham in the Division 4 state quarterfinals on Wednesday evening (5 p.m.) at Gordon College, their eyes on another trip to the semifinals.

“It's great for our team making it this far after losing a lot of kids from last year,” Rich Marjanski said. “I think the girls really are playing a lot better towards the end of the season, than when we started. And it's just one of those things where, I think our schedule helps us a lot, especially tournament time, when we play these tough teams. It helps prepare us moving forward.”

While Marjanski has said in the past that he typically doesn’t plan around other teams (he’d rather tell his players to focus on playing their style of play, not the opposition), he did mention he’s spent time watching a few of Hamilton-Wenham’s contests from this season. And with South Hadley having a strong reputation across D4, Marjanski has gotten the scoop on them from a few of the Generals’ regular-season rivals.

Luckily for South Hadley, Hamilton-Wenham plays a similar style to both Pope Francis and Belchertown, teams that the Tigers have seen twice apiece. That experience should help them on Wednesday.

“When you get to the quarterfinals, you're going to see some very good players,” Marjanski said. “So it's very important that we play possession teams like Pope Francis and Belchertown, because there's going to be some Division 1 players coming out of those schools. So how you manage that, and how you prepare yourself when you play defensively really helps you out in the long run.”

This year, South Hadley’s goal scoring stems from all three levels of the field – much different from past teams. Everyone on the Tigers’ roster is a threat, whether they play forward, midfield or defense. Junior Allison Fleury leads the team in points, senior Katherine McArdle (10 goals, four assists) is dangerous in the attacking third and freshman Hannah Haesaert has come into her own of late, a hat trick in South Hadley’s Round of 16 win over West Bridgewater her most recent outing.

Add in Maddie Soderbaum, CC Gurek and Cara Dean in the midfield as well as Gwen Marion, Margot Watkins and Emma Levreault in the back, all of which have put up multiple points this season, and it’s clear the Tigers’ contributors come from everywhere.

“We’ve been playing together,” Marjanski said. “In the past, we've had defined goal scorers, defensive stoppers, but pretty much everybody on the field is working together right now. One one game it could be Allison scoring a couple goals, next game, it could be my freshman scoring a couple goals, next time, it could be Kate in the middle and some of my midfielders putting in a goal. Defensively, we've been scoring goals. It just kind of shows you when they work together, and they're moving together, anybody can score on this team.”

In goal, freshman Olivia Athas continues to be a bright spot for South Hadley. Filling the big shoes of last season’s keeper, Drew Alley, who graduated last spring, Athas has consistently come up huge in the box. She grabbed 11 saves against West Bridgewater and recorded a shutout in the Round of 32.

Marjanski raved about his goalie’s skills and maturity despite being as young as she is.

“Olivia is one of those once-in-a-lifetime players,” Marjanski said. “After losing Drew and how athletic she was, I don't think I've really skipped a beat athletically with Olivia in net. That's saying a lot for a freshman coming in. She has tremendous hands, she has tremendous instincts and she has tremendous feet. What else can you ask for in a goalie? I think she's still learning part of the game… but in the long run, she has been outstanding for us.”

Playing fast in the middle and putting early pressure on Hamilton-Wenham were two of Marjanski’s keys to the game. If South Hadley puts in the game’s first goal, he likes his team’s chances to pull out a win.

The winner of Wednesday’s battle will face the winner of No. 3 Lynnfield – who the Tigers defeated in last year’s semifinals – and No. 6 Tyngsborough in the Final Four later this week. Those two teams also play Wednesday, kicking off at 2 p.m.