By Sapna Pathak
Staff Writer

As they listened to coach Curt Martin give his post-game speech on Tuesday, Oct. 31, following a 2-1 loss to Raymond in the Class M semifinals, the girls of the Hopkinton girls team heard a scream of pure joy and exhilaration rise up behind them.

There, the players of Epping stood with their coach prior to a semifinal game with Gilford, hyping themselves up with chants and words of encouragement.

A couple Hopkinton players peaked through teary eyes in Epping’s direction, perhaps wishing they were in the Blue Devils’ place.

Two hours earlier, they were, focused on their own Class M semifinal clash.

Yet, after taking a 1-0 lead, allowing Raymond to tie the game and then take the lead, watching three top players leave the field with injuries, ultimately beaten, the third-seeded Hawks faced the reality that their season was over.

It was a sad scene indeed. But Martin took the chance to remind them how special they were just to be there.

With many freshmen on the varsity roster and four consistently starting, Hopkinton surpassed its own and many others’ expectations in a 13-4-1 season that saw it reach the semifinals for the 10th time in 11 years.

Once there, the Hawks ran into a physical Raymond team they had defeated and tied in the regular season but couldn’t contain in the semifinal’s second half.

Hopkinton, building off the momentum from a 3-1 win over Campbell in the quarterfinals on Sunday, Oct. 29, drew first blood in the 10th minute when senior Brittney Fleury found Elise Ewing, who tucked a shot past the keeper into the left corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead.

Raymond pressured the Hawks’ defense throughout the rest of the half, finally breaking through with a little less than nine to play until intermission when Maura McDonald punched a shot off the fingertips of goalie Ashley Brewster and in.

The real blow came seven minutes later, however, when Fleury was clipped near midfield, forcing her to the ground for several moments.

Martin later said she may have aggravated her right ACL, an injury serious enough to force her out for the most of the second half before returning for a few minutes late in the game.

But Hopkinton struggled to get much going thereafter when co-captain Jessie Jewell was forced to the sideline with a leg injury near the start of the second half.

Raymond scored the game-winner about 10 minutes later when Micajah Smith knocked in a Kaitlin Oldfield corner, and Hopkinton temporarily lost its other captain, Cassie Clough, when she went down and spent a few moments on the sideline.

Fleury returned with 10:17 to play, but even with her, Hopkinton struggled to test the Ram defense or its keeper as time ran out on its season.

“We had a couple people come out of the game that probably could’ve made a difference down the stretch, but that happens,” Martin said. “You move on, look at what you did well. I mean, we had a great season. We had five or six freshmen out there and we made the final four.”

Hopkinton graduates six seniors, including Clough, Fleury, Jewell, Brewster, Miranda MacMillan and Kate Scheffey, but returns a number of strong players, including junior Mo McAuliffe and freshmen Emma Brown, Melissa Baron, Katie Babson and Heather Scammon.