BY SAPNA PATHAK
Hopkinton High’s girls lacrosse team set a trend this year. It found continuity doing one thing during each of its games.
The only problem: it’s something the head coach doesn’t want to see again.
Traveling to face Division III foe Pelham on Friday, May 18, the Hawks fell victim again to what’s been bothering mentor Curt Martin the most.
“We’re not playing consistently at all,” said Martin after the Hawks held on for a 9-8 win. “The trend is to play one good half and then lose it the other. We’ve been in games but haven’t been able to put it over the top because we’re trying to learn how to put together an entire-game effort.”
Against the Pythons, Hopkinton took a 4-1 lead into the break, only to watch that lead dwindle in the second half. With less than nine seconds left, the Pythons came close to pushing the game into overtime.
Sarah Gilroy, with three goals and two assists, led the Hawks in scoring, and Sarah Namini netted two goals and dished three assists. Junior midfielder Elyssa Baristow added two goals. Freshman Kaley Cook and senior Becca Dubruile each tallied one goal.
Waiting until the next practice to have his post-game talk, Martin told his players a spark on defense was needed.
“I said our defense didn’t play as well as it should’ve,” said Martin. “A couple of games before, we came back to beat Laconia, and it seemed like the best defensive game ever. I thought we’d be able to build off of that, but it didn’t happen.”
Hopkinton’s entire season – its fourth as a program and second at the varsity level – has followed the same up-and-down pattern. Hopkinton hasn’t quite developed what Martin called “that confidence to turn it around and get on others instead of themselves.”
Close calls have gone the Hawks’ way in the 9-7 win over Laconia on May 15 and against the Pythons. They’ve also gone against Hopkinton in a season-opening, 11-10 loss to John Stark and an 11-9 setback to Kingswood on April 19.
“We haven’t been able to get on a good winning streak,” said Martin. “If we’re playing against a good team, they’ll score a couple quick goals, and we tend to get down on ourselves. They’re young.
They have to work out the bad habits and tendencies for it to work.”