BOLTON — Playing toe-to-toe with the No. 7 seed in Division 2, the No. 23 Northampton girls soccer team had a flurry of chances to jump ahead and command control early in the second half on the road against Nashoba.

In the opening minutes of the latter frame with the game scoreless, the Blue Devils had a great chance in the box with Olivia Busone finding space 10 yards out from the goal. As she wound up to take what looked like an open shot, a Wolves defender got a toe on the ball from the back of Busone and sent it out of play. The ensuing corner kick would sail behind the goal as the hosts dodged a bullet.

About 10 minutes later Nashoba struck for the game’s only tally. Despite consistent pressure from Northampton throughout the final 40, the underdogs couldn’t find a goal. The Blue Devils fell 1-0 in the MIAA Division 2 Round of 16 on Saturday evening.

“I thought our team played fantastic, in all honesty,” Northampton head coach Vanessa Butynski said. “We put the pressure on where we needed to, we had some of our opportunities as well. There was no lack of effort, no lack of energy and no lack of heart from my players, so I commend to them for tonight and the entire season.”

After an evenly-matched first half that didn’t feature a goal or many scoring chances for either side, the Blue Devils started the second with an unmatched intensity. The first seven minutes were dominated by Northampton, and its best scoring chances – Busone’s included – came in that stretch.

Playing away from home with house money, getting that first score often serves as a gut-punch to the higher-seeded team.

Northampton felt like it was knocking on the door of that go-ahead goal for much of the night, and Margaux Galvin’s second-half blast from outside of the 18 was denied by a diving Camden Grant – Nashoba’s goalie – to keep the score the same.

“We had a really good halftime talk and we put the pressure on right away,” Butynski said. “We knew what we needed to do to break their line and get in. I thought we knocked, and knocked, but unfortunately couldn’t put one home. We gave it a hell of a game.”

Nashoba finally broke the scoreless streak with a goal in the 51st minute. The ball got through the Blue Devils’ back line after they initially tried clearing it away, and Wolves forward Grayson Edwards ran onto it with no Northampton defender in sight. Goalie Anna Oravec was in between on whether she should charge the ball or not, so Edwards popped the ball over her head and it one-hopped into the goal. It ended up serving as the game’s winner.

Northampton had already gone on the road to upset a higher-seeded team earlier in the week in No. 10 Marblehead, so the Blue Devils were more than prepared for what it takes to do it again this time against No. 7 Nashoba.

They had more corner kicks (6-4) and the same amount of shots on goal as the Wolves.

“We focus on ourselves a lot, and know the things that we do best,” Butysnki said. “When we lock it in the attacking third, we can do damage. Yes, [beating Marblehead] for sure gave us confidence. We really focus on us and make sure we’re playing to our best abilities. And honestly, tonight could have gone any way. Unfortunately it didn’t go ours, but we feel like we can play with any team out here.”

That wasn’t always the case for Butynski’s group, and that’s why it’ll be so hard saying goodbye to her five seniors – Allyson Busone, Odessa Gianesin, Teagan McDonald, Eleanor Lewis and Allison Edmands. When the five of them were freshmen, Northampton lost 6-0 in the opening round of the D2 tournament.

Now, they’ve helped elevate the Northampton program to the point where it was one goal shy of reaching the state quarterfinals.

“They’ve been here for four years and were here when we had to rebuild,” Butynski said. “I commended them in our postgame talk there, just how special they are to this program and how much of a difference-maker they have all been. We’re really gonna miss them.”

Northampton finished its season with a record of 15-3-3 and not only picked up its first-ever tournament win under the new format, the Blue Devils won two of them. It was certainly a season to remember for ‘Hamp.

Div. 3 Round of 16

No. 1 Norwell 3, No. 16 Belchertown 0 — The Orioles watched their season come to a close on Saturday afternoon as they suffered a shutout defeat at the hands of top-seeded Norwell.

Belchertown couldn’t keep up with Norwell’s prolific scoring. Although the Orioles may have fallen shy of the ultimate goal, they still had a tremendous season that included a 2-0 win over South Hadley in the Western Mass. Class B finals. Their final record stands at 10-6-5.