Some defending champs don’t want to talk about it. Some don’t even like to be asked about the title they won the previous season. That’s not the case with the Hopkinton boys’ soccer team, the 2016 Division III champs.
“We talk about it all the time. It’s kind of the elephant in the room, so there’s no reason not to talk about it,” said Scott Zipke, who has led Hopkinton to six titles during his 12 years as the head coach. “My guys have an expectation every single year that they’re going to be competitive and play 20 games and win game number 20 (the final). It’s a good approach, but it certainly leaves them open for disappointment.
“That’s the only expectation in my guys’ mind and there’s nothing I’ve said to cultivate that or make that happen. I feel like they win the championship one year and they don’t want to be the team that then lets down the program and doesn’t make it back there next year.”
This year’s team will have to deal with the loss of two First Team D-III picks – leading scorer Jacob Rockwood, who delivered game-winning goals in last year’s semifinal and final, and defender Tucker Windhurst, who could take away an opponent’s best player all by himself.
“I don’t know if we’ve ever lost two people the caliber of Jacob Rockwood and Tucker Windhurst at the same time,” Zipke said. “They were both, at their positions, probably the best players in our division. I’ve had players of that caliber before, but I don’t know about two of them.”
Still, the Hawks return plenty of talent, starting with senior midfielder Max Rossignol, a First Team D-III selection last year himself, and senior forward Gerry Donahue, a 2016 D-III Honorable Mention. Those two will be among the senior leaders who will help the team’s younger players adjust to the varsity level and the expectations that come with the Hopkinton jersey, a process that is already going well.
“I think the group this year is different from last year, and chemistry is a factor we have to our advantage this year,” Rossignol said. “We have strong chemistry and strong friendships among teammates. … I think we have a strong returning core and we’re building relationships with the younger players and all that will help us in the long run.”
What the Hawks don’t have is much depth. There are only 28 kids in the program, just enough to field a JV team, and that’s only because 14 freshmen came out for tryouts. It may not be an ideal situation, but the Hawks are making the most of it.
“It makes everybody’s role that much more important and makes everybody feel more tight knit,” Rossignol said. “I think accepting the fact that we don’t have the numbers that we’ve had in the past or that we’d like to have, it just really establishes the need to come to practice everyday and put in that extra work.”
“For me, it’s made life easier,” Zipke said. “There weren’t any decisions about who plays where. We got down to business on day one.”
A big part of that business for Zipke, a former goalkeeper himself, was working with sophomore Sam Crawford, who will step into the starting keeper role after playing the position for the first time last season at the JV level. Crawford pitched a complete game in the D-IV baseball championship last spring as a freshman, and that athletic ability has Zipke feeling good about his young keeper.
Crawford will have a pair of experienced defenders in front of him in senior Dustin Rose and sophomore Derek West. Rose played every minute of every game last year, and West was the team’s freshman phenom who saved balls on the goal line in both the semifinals and final. If Hopkinton plays four on the back line, sophomores Aiden Kennett and Benny Madden will be the outside backs. If the Hawks play three in the back and five in the midfield, either Kennett or Madden will move up.
Rossignol was a scoring force from the midfield last season, but he said this fall, “I still need to score goals, but I want to make sure I’m creating opportunities for other players and distributing.” Senior Zach Signor is another experienced player returning to the center of Hopkinton’s midfield.
Freshman Shea Dickson is the lone freshman on the Hopkinton varsity roster, and both Zipke and Rossignol are excited about his skill and potential. Dickson is the son of former Hopkinton Coach Mark Dickson and was, “waddling around on the sideline as a 2-year-old when I was an assistant for Mark,” Zipke said. Paul Molnar came on strong at the end of last season and will likely be the other outside midfielder.
Hopkinton will look for scoring production from Donahue, and, “he’s gotten stronger, he’s gotten bigger and he’s able to force the ball into situations that some strikers might not be able to,” according to Rossignol. He’ll be joined up top by senior Azarius Meister, who saw time as a sub last fall.
“We certainly have a good core of returning players,” Zipke said. “So even though our numbers aren’t big, our crew of what we have is pretty strong.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20)