CLASS M BOYS SOCCER
Extra time means extra-special title for Hopkinton
BY MATT STOUT
Somehow, even after Gilford’s Chip Veazey buried a rebound to put his team up, 2-1, with 3:23 remaining in the Class M boys soccer title game on Thursday, Nov. 9, coach Scott Zipke and his second-seeded Hopkinton Hawks knew they could – and would – win.
Somehow, even after Gilford’s Chip Veazey buried a rebound to put his team up, 2-1, with 3:23 remaining in the Class M boys soccer title game on Thursday, Nov. 9, coach Scott Zipke and his second-seeded Hopkinton Hawks knew they could – and would – win.
Somehow, they proved it.
First, David Wood tied the game in the 78th minute with a 45-yard laser of a shot.
Then, Hopkinton ended an epic championship – one that spanned more than 204 minutes and two matches – when Joe Dammann headed home a pinpoint pass from Matt Demers 4:32 into the first overtime, clinching Hopkinton’s 3-2 win and its third state championship in program history.
The victory, Hopkinton’s first title-game win since 1984, ended No. 1 Gilford’s 39-game win streak and dethroned the now 19-1 and defending champion Eagles in the process.
But the opponent alone didn’t make it special.
After playing to a 1-1, double- overtime tie on Sunday, Nov. 5, and heading toward the same result in replaying the game on Thursday, the Hawks’ defense continually held off Gilford, while the offense played without senior captain Liv Miller, who received his third yellow card of the year in the first game, forcing him to sit.
Gilford looked in position to win it after Phil Petrozzi bent a free kick off the right post to Veazey for the go-ahead score.
But Wood hit an improbable shot – tucking the ball in under the right side of the crossbar in similar fashion to a regularseason goal he had against Raymond. And the Hawks, no strangers to overtime, finished it minutes later when Demers fished a ball out of the right corner and into the box to Dammann.
Wood’s goal marked the third time Hopkinton came back to tie Gilford during the two games, while Dammann’s score, also his second of the night, gave his team its first lead.
Hopkinton also needed overtime to dispatch Campbell, 1-0, in the semifinals. “Just fight, fight, fight” is how Demers described Hopkinton’s attitude. “That’s how we look at it, and that’s how we like to play. We just came back and said, ‘All year, we worked for this. Every Saturday morning that we had practice, we didn’t do this for nothing.’ We knew we were going to win the state championship.” Zipke, in his first year as Hopkinton’s head coach, sensed it, too.
“After Dave scored, I’m seeing hands on their heads,” he said, referring to Gilford’s players. “After they scored on us, I didn’t see any of that. They turned around, put the ball down, and it was time to play.”
In a championship seemingly played at 100 mph from start to finish, it was that intensity and ability to execute that ultimately propelled Hopkinton.
Several key saves from Zach Cousens more than made up for a muffed saveturned-- goal 24:39 into Thursday’s game, while backs Brian “Kim” Long, Nate Mosseau, Dan Forrester and Ben Metcalf shut down Gilford, which beat up Hopkinton in a 4-1 win to close the regular season.
As good as it felt to claim the state title, the Hawks can feel even better about whom they return to defend it.
Hopkinton loses seniors Miller, Mosseau, Metcalf, Al Grogan and Will Merrow to graduation, but players like sophomore striker Travis Fuglestad and junior David Brandt join Wood, Long, Dammann and others will be back.
Indeed, coming back is natural for the Hawks.
“The makeup of the team allows for a lot of resiliency, and we have a lot of heart and we always bounce back from things,” Wood said. “We haven’t had to do it a lot this year, but when we need to, we’ve been able to.”