EXETER – They were pushed to the edge, and nearly knocked off it, but the two-time defending champs survived overtime and will now play for title number three.
After giving up a goal with less than three seconds left in regulation, the Hopkinton boys’ lacrosse team scored 1:09 into overtime to claim an 11-10 semifinal win over No. 3 Monadnock on Thursday.
“I expected another close game, we went to OT against them in the regular season as well, but it was a lot closer than I thought,” said Hopkinton’s Allan Faulkner, who had a game-high five goals, including the golden one in overtime. “It was a super fun game, Monadnock played great, they were a fun opponent to go against.”
The second-seeded Hawks (15-1) will play in their third straight Division III championship game on Saturday against top-ranked and undefeated Pelham, the only team to beat Hopkinton in the last three years. Whatever happens in that one, it’s hard to imagine it being closer than Thursday’s semifinal.
Down a goal with 5.8 seconds on the clock, the Huskies (13-3) called timeout with possession in their own end. The play from Monadnock coach Rob Hart worked to perfection as Chris Boucher (three goals, assist) fed a cutting Dom Dow, who ripped a high shot past Hopkinton goalie Benny Madden with 2.8 seconds left to tie things at 10-10 and send the game to sudden-death overtime.
“I was frustrated at first,” Madden said of his mood during the break between regulation and the extra session, “and then we came in and got together and calmed ourselves down.”
Madden (11 saves) needed all the calm he could get when Monadnock’s Tim Hart came bearing down on him in the first minute of overtime.
“He had the whole net basically and I was left out to dry, by myself,” Madden said. “He spikes the ball and all I can do is throw my stick up, last-ditch effort.”
The effort, and Hart’s shot, knocked over Madden, but he made the save, and the Hawks regained possession and called timeout with 3:07 left in the four-minute overtime. On the restart, Hopkinton’s Paul Molnar ran the ball to midfield before getting knocked to the turf at Bill Ball Stadium and losing his stick. But the ball never left his pocket, and Molnar never gave up on the play.
He grabbed the stick, popped to his feet, ran into the box and dished to an open Faulkner about 10 yards from the goal.
“I saw Paul coming down with the ball and I saw three guys moving to him, so I cut across and he passed it to me and I just let it rip,” Faulkner said. “I had my hands free.”
The shot bounced about 5 yards in front of Monadnock goalie Joey Drew (nine saves) and carried up past his stick for the game winner.
“This turf is nice to bounce on,” Faulkner said. “It has a hard bounce and it sort of fakes low and will bounce high.”
“Allan is just a clutch player,” Hopkinton coach Deacon Blue said. “Super cool, light-hearted guy off the field, but when it comes to game time, he lights it up.”
Monadnock (13-3) used a physical defense and a disciplined offense to take a 5-4 halftime lead that went to 7-4 early in the second half. When they had possession, the Huskies slowed the game down to save their legs and negate Hopkinton’s depth advantage. The deliberate pace also helped Monadnock set up quality scoring chances.
“They ran some really good plays from behind the net, some isolation plays that were making us have to slide harder than usual,” Hopkinton senior defender Kiernan Byrne said. “The first few times they did that we missed our slides and they made us pay, but we talked about it and tightened up and made some improvements.”
That tightening gave the Hawks offense time to claw back. Despite being face-guarded by Monadnock, Hopkinton star midfielder Colby Quiet scored with 8:13 left in the third period. That started a three-goal Hawks run that tied things at 7-7 about three minutes later.
From that point on, neither team could escape the other. Monadnock’s Boucher gave his team a 9-8 lead with 6:22 left in regulation, but Hopkinton answered with clutch goals from Corey Breault (two goals, two assists) and Quiet to take a 10-9 lead with 2:33 to play and set the stage for the last-second and overtime drama.
“We were definitely disappointed that they got that quick goal in the final seconds. We just lost track of their cutters,” Blue said of Monadnock’s goal that forced overtime. “It got to us a little bit, but I said pick yourselves up and fight through it and play on and keep the energy up. It went back and forth in overtime, but we stayed hopeful and it worked out.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20)