BY
RYAN O’CONNOR
Two drastically different victories
kept the Hopkinton boys
soccer team unbeaten through
two weeks of the Class M season.
Two days after soaring past
Somersworth, 5-0, the Hawks
clawed back from an early 2-0
deficit and overtook Mascoma,
3-2, on Friday, Sept. 12.
Mascoma scored twice in the
first 12 minutes, but Hopkinton’s
still-gelling defense locked down
and prevented another tally.
In the meantime, all-stater
Travis Fuglestad notched three
unassisted goals.
He first found the back of the
net in the 13th minute, before
planting the ball in the upperright
corner on a free kick in the
39th minute.
Fuglestad capped the scoring
in the 52nd minute.
“His last goal came on pure
hustle when he saved a slowrolling
ball while going out for a
goal kick near the corner flag,”
said his coach, Scott Zipke. “(He)
then took it straight to the goal,
running by defenders and hammering
it past the keeper.”
While Fuglestad’s name
dominated the box score, fellow
striker Kris Abildgaard played
very well, said Zipke, creating
several opportunities for his
teammates.
Hopkinton finished with
more than 20 shots.
Bret Minnehan made four
saves for the winners.
“All in all, today was great
experience and made us a much
better team,” said Zipke. “My
guys showed a positive attitude
the whole game, and their superior
fitness certainly paid off as
well.”
Hopkinton’s conditioning
was evident against Somersworth
as well.
While holding their foes to
zero shots on goal, the Hawks
peppered the opposing netminder
with 16 shots.
While Fuglestad garnered
another three scores, Zipke said
the player of the game was sophomore
Billie French.
“Billie played a stellar game
both defensively and offensively
at outside mid and had his hand
in on a number of scoring opportunities
other than the two that
made the stat sheet,” said the
coach.
In the 21st minute,
Abildgaard fed a cross to French,
who placed the ball perfectly for
Fuglestad to notch the first tally.
French then took a long pass
from Abildgaard, faked a defender
and the goalie, and scored the
second goal himself.
Abildgaard relayed a shot
off the crossbar to Fuglestad
for the third point, and Joe Merrow
assisted on a Will Rendell
header before Eric Kilens provided
the helper on Fuglestad’s
third goal.
Hopkinton was scheduled
to host Conant on Wednesday,
Sept. 17.