BY JERRY LIPTAK

Mother Nature visited Saturday, Oct. 27, extending Hopkinton’s season. Epping visited Sunday, Oct. 28, ending it.

Despite what girls soccer head coach Curt Martin called a solid effort, the No. 3 Lady Hawks dropped a 2-1 Class M quarterfinal-round decision to the No. 6 Blue Devils.

“I though we controlled play,” said Martin, whose team finishes the season 12-5-0. “We did what we wanted to do for the most part, but we had just a couple minor lapses.”

Hopkinton, in fact, allowed a goal in each half, falling behind 1-0 at the break, tying the match on Kaley Cook’s left-footed goal early in the second half, then allowing the winning goal with little more than 13 minutes left.

The Lady Hawks pressured the guests, but Epping, 12-5-1 after the victory, continued to put two and sometimes three defenders on striker Elise Ewing, who still managed to boot a few shots at a pair of Epping keepers.

Hopkinton did not face the Blue Devils in the regular season, when the Hawks opened with seven straight wins. The girls dropped two straight during a period when Martin said the team played inconsistently, then rallied to win five of seven down the stretch, due in large part to solid leadership from the seniors.

Six Lady Hawks played their final high school soccer match for the school – co-captains Moe McAuliffe, a midfielder, and Dayna Jewell, a defender; starting defender Elyssa Bairstow; and reserves Kristen Murphy, a forward; Gretchen Loft, a forward and midfielder; and midfielder Liz Brown.

“What a good group of seniors. They’ve given tremendous effort since they’ve started with the program,” said Martin. “Some of them didn’t make varsity until this year, so it shows their love for the game.”