Bow, Hopkinton to meet in Division III championship game

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EXETER – Bow kept its appointment for the Division III girls’ soccer championship. But Campbell, the Falcons’ final opponent the last two seasons, won’t be keeping the date. Upstart Hopkinton made sure of that.

After beating the number two seed in the quarterfinals, No. 7 Hopkinton (13-6) pulled off another upset yesterday when it found a late goal for a 1-0 win against No. 3 Campbell (13-5) in the first semifinal at Bill Ball Stadium. Bow (18-0-1) handled business in the second game with a 2-0 decision over No. 4 Raymond (13-6).

“I thought it was kind of neat that we created this new rivalry with Campbell,” Falcons senior Jane Leven said, “but I guess now our new rivalry is with Hopkinton.”

It may be new to these teams, but Bow and Hopkinton met in the finals in 1998, 1999 and 2003, with the Hawks winning all three times.

“It’s an old rival from years past, but for us it’s new,” Bow Coach Jay Vogt said. “We have a lot of respect for Hopkinton and what they’ve done.”

What the Hawks did against Campbell was play an even first half, survive constant pressure for most of the second half, and sneak a goal in with 7:21 left on the clock off a corner kick from Courtney Benson, who scored four goals in the first two playoff games. Campbell keeper Heather Baron had just let a left-side corner kick from Benson slip through her fingers and roll over the end line, giving the Hawks another corner, this one from the right. Benson curled it to the near post where it went off Baron’s hands and up into the net just inside the crossbar.

“I was just trying to get it in so somebody could get their head on it and hope for the best,” Benson said. “I had no idea how it went in, I was just so excited.”

“It was a tough judgment for the keeper to make, and then our pressure was coming,” Hopkinton Coach Lauri Izzi said. “It was a tough ball for (Baron) and a great kick by Courtney.”

Campbell won both of the regular-season games between these two teams, and those losses fueled the Hawks.

“It really motivated us that we lost to them twice,” Benson said. “We really wanted to show them how good we are and how we can really play.”

Hopkinton showed just that in the opening half. Benson was creative and dangerous at the top, Meg Hemmerlein’s aggressive, physical play helped the Hawks control the midfield, and center back Sabrey Montore cleaned up any mistakes. By halftime, the shots on goal were even at three apiece and the scoreless tie felt like an accurate reflection of the play.

The next 30 minutes or so were a different story. Campbell’s quickness and skill dominated the play as Sydney Crema, Casey Mellen and Olivia Crema created multiple chances. But the Cougars put only one of their shots on net, and Kasey Smith (four saves) took care of that, and the Hopkinton back line of Montore, Caroline Sweny, Abby Lui and Tess Masci defused the other opportunities.

“The defense, they play hard and they play together,” Izzi said, “and I couldn’t have asked for more from them today.”

Defense was also at the heart of Bow’s 2-0 win. It was the 17th shutout in 19 games for the Falcons, who have allowed just two goals all season, the last one Oct. 12 against Campbell.

“Our focus is just covering, when one person steps up one person drops,” said Leven, who centered Bow’s back line of Kat Bemis, Byrie Forey and Emma Garfield in front of keeper Janna Corsetti (five saves). “Defense has been our strong suit, we work on that a lot.”

Bow’s other strong suit has been depth, and it showed against Raymond. The Rams dropped into a defensive formation for the opening 20 minutes, but the Falcons starters didn’t move forward into the open space. Vogt was talking to his bench players about taking that space, and they followed when they entered the game in the middle of the first half, especially Madeleine Cheney. The freshman looked dangerous as soon as she got on the field and with 3:44 she put Bow on the board, finishing a pretty through ball from another reserve, sophomore Brienna Achorn, for a 1-0 lead.

“(Cheney) had a tremendous game today and we have very good depth as a team,” Vogt said. “I have as much confidence in the second group as I do in the first group, and actually the second group settled the game down today.”

A pair of Bow starters connected for the second goal when Sarah Carlson found Lindsey Reynolds open on the right side of the box in the middle of the second half. Reynolds then shot across her body and tucked the ball into the far corner to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead with 28:36 left in the game.

Even though that two-goal lead seemed safe with the stingy Bow defense, the Falcons never felt entirely comfortable. Not after they had just seen Hopkinton’s stunner.

“We were still nervous because any team can beat you. Like in the game before when Campbell lost and we thought we Campbell would meet us in the championship,” Benson said. “So we’re confident, but we also know also know that any team can beat us, so we have to come prepared for every game.”