They can take pride in the fact they’re constantly one of the top teams in the state. But that’s little comfort to Patty Connolly and her Lady Hawks.

For the fourth straight year, the Hopkinton girls field hockey team completed a fine regular season, earned a high playoff seed and made a strong push into the Class M-S semifinals.

For the fourth straight year, the run ended there. The fifth-seeded Lady Hawks, who beat No. 4 Mascoma on the road to reach the semifinals in Bedford, fell to top-ranked Berlin, 3-1, despite controlling play for much of the second half.

“Having been to the game the last three years, they really wanted to do whatever they could to get to the next level,” said Connolly.

They almost did.

Though the locals expected to pull an upset, especially with the knowledge Bedford High’s artificial turf played to their speed, Berlin scored during the first minute of play, which Connolly said took some wind from her team’s taut sails.

Roughly 15 minutes later the Lady Mountaineers extended their lead to 2-0, but Hopkinton remained focused and drew within one when Brittany Dow connected with fellow standout Hannah Richard less than two minutes before halftime.

The Lady Hawks attacked immediately in the second half and maintained control of the ball for most of the next 14 minutes. They had many opportunities to score, but Berlin goalie Hilary Lemelin denied shot after shot.

Berlin coach Nicole Arguin called a timeout with 16 minutes remaining in the contest, which seemed to refocus her players, and a couple minutes after Hopkinton goalie Megan Edmonds came out of the net to deny a one-on-none breakaway with a spectacular diving stop, Berlin’s Kara Poirier knocked in her own rebound to secure the victory.

“They never gave up. They kept believing they could do it,” said Connoly. “We had our opportunities. We controlled it (deep in Berlin territory) for a long time, but I give credit to them and their goalie. Their defense was very strong back there.”

Making the loss that much more difficult for the Hopkinton mentor is the knowledge she’ll lose seven seniors – Remley Johnson, Amy Smith, Megan Wilson, Liz Crews, Brooke Porter, Brittany Dow and Taylor Adamski – who played key roles in the Hawks’ success this season.

“It’s going to be a much younger team next year, and losing those seniors leaves a lot of holes,” said Connolly. “I would hope we can get to this game again, but realistically we’re going to have to grow a lot during the season to get back here.”

Still, Richard returns with fellow juniors Jess Pennell, Danielle Gonzales, Mimi Ramsdell, Christina Hurley, Margreta York, Emma Hunt, Claudia Lawton and Miranda Murphy. Sophomores Edmonds, Ali Campbell, Kara McCluskey and Kelsey Dow also come back.