SPRINGFIELD — The Fall 2025 boys soccer season officially wrapped up on Monday at Pope Francis Preparatory School with the annual Western Mass. Senior All-Star Game.
Buoyed by a two-point performance from Belchertown’s Austin Raymer, the designated Red Team defeated the White Team, 2-1.
Raymer assisted Longmeadow’s Sam Tyson just before the end of the half with the opening goal of the match. The Lancers’ forward has become a key figure in Longmeadow’s attack since joining varsity as a sophomore, registering 10 or more points in each of the last two seasons.
“It was a pretty cool journey… we kind of had a rough season in my sophomore year,” Tyson said. “My junior year we tied a lot, (but) my grade, we’ve been talking about our senior season and we were looking forward our whole life because we knew with that group of guys, we were going to do good.
“It ended up kind of rough, but I’m satisfied with our season, we did well.”
10 minutes into the second half, Jasper Cantor connected on a close-range opportunity from the left side of the box to level the scoreline. The match remained tied for close to 15 minutes before Raymer capitalized on a mistake and scored the go-ahead goal.
“It’s been a great year for me, getting the opportunity to be a captain of belchertown soccer has really improved everything about me,” the Orioles’ midfielder said. “I’ve become more mature, more responsible, all things that you need going ahead in life.
“My teammates, (I) love them. I’m going to remember them for the rest of my life… the opportunity to be All-State and play in this game, it’s a great opportunity and I’m super grateful for it.”
Raymer highlighted how much he enjoyed playing alongside childhood friends he’s had to face as rivals over the past few years.
“It’s a blast ― I mean, yea, these guys have been my ‘enemies’, but there’s always been a connection on the field,” Raymer said. “I’ve known a lot of these guys for most of my soccer career and I have a family friend that I got to play with tonight on Frontier, Ian Paciorek, and I was super glad that he was on my team for this.”
The Western Mass. Class A/B Senior All-Star Game was held at Pope Francis Preparatory School on Nov. 24, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Zachary Siano)Zachary Siano
The hard work and effort these student-athletes put in to earn minutes on varsity is an invaluable lesson in itself of how far those two traits can take you.
“It’s been a very developmental process for me, as I stopped playing soccer when I was in about fifth grade,” Pope Francis’ Teddy Dandurand said. “When I started (as a freshman), I was just getting back into it on JV and then finally I was getting pulled up my sophomore year, then junior and senior year working to get those minutes on the field.
“It’s been fun, I’ve really enjoyed the process, getting to know the coaches and getting to just enjoy the team sport. Hanging out with the guys, going to team dinners… regardless of what you think about the coach, listen to them, because they will have notes for you that will impact your game. Even if you think they’re not always right, they’ll have good notes for you.”
The Western Mass. Class A/B Senior All-Star Game was held at Pope Francis Preparatory School on Nov. 24, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Hugo Destapado)Hugo Destapado
While some of these student-athletes will continue playing athletics in college, Monday’s game will be the final opportunity for others to play organized sports. As they each get set to embark on the next chapter in their lives off the pitch, the memories of their time spent amongst one another will remain with them for years to come.
“Playing at Central these four full years was amazing,” Gloireadeau Manyegezi. “I really had fun playing with the people today, some people that I’ve played against and it was really fun just playing with them and bonding with them in our last game of the high school year.
“I had a lot of fun playing here (at Springfield Central) and I wouldn’t change for it.”