LACONIA — The Hopkinton High boys’ lacrosse team doesn’t panic when it makes mistakes. So when Plymouth came back again, and again, and again, the Hawks didn’t get frazzled and stuck to the plan.
No. 2 Hopkinton shut out No. 3 Plymouth in the second quarter, scored four consecutive goals in the third to build a little cushion, and senior goalie Eli Standefer made some big saves down the stretch to lift the Hawks to a 12-9 victory in the Division III semifinals on Wednesday evening at Bank of New Hampshire Stadium in Laconia.
Hopkinton (14-2) punched its ticket to its fourth championship appearance in the last five seasons and will play No. 4 Laconia (13-3) for the D-III title on Sunday at Exeter’s Bill Ball Stadium.
Senior midfielder Aidan Burns scored a pair of goals within the first three minutes of the game to lift the Hawks to an early lead over the Bobcats (13-4), but Plymouth countered quickly with scores from Dylan Welch (two goals), Lukas Legacy and Brendan Marcoux (four goals) to take a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Hawks wasted no time regaining the advantage, with junior defender Steven Reddy scoring a pair of goals in the first 24 seconds of the second quarter and senior Ethan Molnar netting another less than three minutes after that to give Hopkinton a 5-3 halftime lead.
Reddy was in beast mode all over the field, collecting 15 ground balls and causing three Bobcat turnovers, in addition to scoring a pair of goals and registering an assist.
“All season, we’ve talked about not letting mistakes get to us, just moving on and playing our hardest on the next play,” Hopkinton head coach Deacon Blue said. “We’ve been in that position before. I think the guys have good perseverance at this point. They didn’t let it get to their heads.”
The Hawks beat Plymouth during the regular season, 12-6, on May 18, so Blue and his defense had a game plan coming in.
“We knew they would push fast breaks,” Blue said.
“They have some fast middies, so we knew that we had to cut that off. We were able to get good passing and create opportunities on offense. Winning the possession game really helped our D not get tired out and keep up the pressure that we like to.”
That clutch defense fueled a relentless second-quarter offense that forced Plymouth goalie Jacob Marcoux (12 saves) to make several saves from point-blank range, while another Hopkinton attempt clanged off the post that could’ve turned a thrilling game into a runaway.
Brendan Marcoux and Welch scored with 8:59 and 7:51 left on the clock in the third quarter to tie the game, 5-5, but senior midfielders Quinn Whitehead (three goals, assist) and Josh Duval and sophomore attack Patrick Buss put together a 4-0 run over a 4½-minute span to put the Hawks on top, 9-5.
Senior attack Ryan Brown (two goals, three assists, four ground balls) netted his first tally of the game late in the third to give Hopkinton a 10-6 lead.
The Bobcats played the way their motto describes – full tilt – in the fourth quarter to cut the Hawks’ lead to 10-8 with less than seven minutes to go and 11-9 with 2:15 remaining, but Whitehead and Brown scored in the final three minutes of the game to maintain some distance.
Standefer made most of his 13 saves in the later stages of the fourth quarter, and Reddy added some big plays on defense.
“Eli’s clutch like that,” Blue said. “Eli was standing on his head for us, in the clear, making saves. He’s great with communication, too. That’s big for us, talking on D, all being on the same page.
“Steven Reddy had a game. He was all over (Plymouth’s) guys. Anybody we told him to go get the ball from, he got.”
Communicating the game plan and sticking to it will be key in the championship against Laconia.
The Hawks beat the Sachems, 8-5, on May 19, but Laconia is coming in hot after a 7-6 upset victory over undefeated and top-ranked Campbell in the second semifinal.
“We’re going to play our game,” Blue said. “We’re just going to stay focused on what we always do and do it the best we can.”
Opening faceoff for Sunday’s championship is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.