Hopkinton News : lacrosse

To reach playoffs, Hopkinton must outhustle foes

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:01:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Doug Maynard knows what is going to earn his team a spot in the Division III postseason, and he reminded his group during every huddle.

The Hopkinton boys lacrosse coach stressed to his team the importance of winning ground balls during each break in the action, and it paid off during a 13-2 victory over shorthanded Pembroke Academy on Friday, May 1.

Attacker Duncan Sweny had a career day, finding the back of the net five times, and Billy French notched a hat trick for the Hawks, who took a 6-1 lead into the break and continued to pull away.

“We played with intensity the whole game, and our throwing, catching and ground-ball skills were very much improved,” said Maynard.

“That’s what’s going to win us these games, is outworking our opponents to ground balls and having that get things going on offense.”

With the win, Hopkinton improved to 2-4 on the season, with single wins stopping twogame losing streaks twice.

Maynard said his team has lacked consistent offensive firepower, but he saw improvement in that area against the Spartans.

“They know where to shoot and how to shoot, but they need to be able to just do it automatically,” he said. “The last two or three games our wing play has been the strongest aspect for us, and we are hoping that will carry over.”

Hopkinton boys lacrosse takes road win with speed, strong goalkeeping

Bow Editor — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:02:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Visiting Hopkinton High School jumped out early on host John Stark and minimized a second- half charge, continuing its recent dominance of the Generals with a 7-2 victory in Division- III boys lacrosse on Friday, April 18.

Hopkinton’s David Wood opened the scoring roughly three minutes into the first quarter of the contest, firing a deep shot that found the back of the net. Less than a minute later, Doug Meyer gave the Hawks a two-goal lead, weaving through the General defense and scoring past John Stark goalie Andrew Seccareccio. It was the first of Meyer’s three goals during the game.

Joe Dammann then added two goals within a minute of each other, and the Hawks, behind goalie Bryan Libby, who turned several difficult shots away, held on for the win.

“We got a normal game out of (Libby), with normal meaning outstanding,” said Hopkinton’s head coach, Doug Maynard. “He’s doing a great job in net. He can play outside the crease and make outlet passes. He’s been the total package.”

Early in the second half, John Stark scored when Nathan Goldsberry fired from close range after receiving a pass from Parker Gage. That cut the lead to 4-1.

Following Meyer’s second goal late in the third quarter, John Stark answered when Goldsberry notched his second goal of the game to make it 5-2. Hopkinton iced the contest with two fourth-quarter goals.

Generals head coach Mark Schaub said his team has had lopsided contests with Hopkinton in recent match-ups, and he was happy his team was able to keep the score closer this time.

“In the past it would have been hard for us (falling behind early), but this team has a good mindset,” said Schaub. “We didn’t think we were out of it. I was proud they could focus on what they knew they could do.”

Maynard said the key to the victory was his group’s determined effort to control play.

“I love seeing more men getting on the ground balls,” said the coach, whose team improved to 2-1. “We had great hustle, and we worked very hard.”

Schaub said John Stark, now 1-3, had a difficult time controlling the speed of Hopkinton.

“They’re a fast team, and they really kept us running. That was impressive,” he said. “They moved the ball well, and when our defense got out of position, they found the hole.”

Detour to the top – In third varsity season, top-ranked Hawks clipped again in semis

Bow Editor — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:45:00 GMT

BY SAPNA PATHAK

It took less than two minutes to halt a season full of domination over opponents, the most wins in Division III and perhaps the biggest expectations the program has seen.

But don’t think for a moment Doug Maynard’s going to let 120 seconds overshadow two months – make that three years – of success.

It’s the attitude the head coach of Hopkinton boys lacrosse will have when he sits down with his players to reflect on their 8-7 loss in this year’s D-III boys lacrosse semifinals. Entering the matchup as the No. 1 seed, the Hawks battled fourth-seeded Merrimack Valley to overtime before the Pride scored the winning goal.

“We beat them, 10-8, in the regular season,” said Maynard, in his first year as head coach. “It’s hard to beat the same team twice. They played a little better in the first half, we fought back and never got the ball in overtime. We were definitely expecting big things this year. We thought we’d make it to the finals.”

In just its third season as a varsity program, Hopkinton has improved every year. After a losing season in 2005, the past two years have seen the Hawks make semifinal-round appearances. They dropped last year’s game, 10-6, to top-seeded Kearsarge.

Coming back from a 5-1 deficit in the first half, the Hawks pushed the Pride into a 7-7 deadlock behind offensive weapons Joe Dammann, with three goals; Dave Roberts, with two; and Doug Meyer and Steve Porter, with one goal each.

Seniors Deacon Blue, Nate Mosseau, Porter and Roberts finished the season with all-state honors. Porter led this year’s squad with 112 points.

“We’re going to field a lot younger team next season,” said Maynard. “We’re losing such high-quality seniors, but, at the same time, it only took a couple years for them to become that good. So we can expect big leaps from our young guys, too.”

Junior goalie Brian Libby played “by far his best game” against MV, according to Maynard, keeping the Hawks in a position to force the extra period.
“He played outstandingly well,” said Maynard of his keeper. “He kept us in the game and gave us the chance to fight for a win. They just came out and won the face-off in overtime, and we never got to touch the ball. We just didn’t have it at the end there, but that’s not to take away from the program being on its way up every year.”

Half-and-half – HHS still searching for steady effort

Bow Editor — Wed, 23 May 2007 20:26:00 GMT

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.”

Perfect improvement – HHS begins unbeaten, but tougher foes loom

Bow Editor — Wed, 02 May 2007 19:45:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

As Steve Porter circled the Pelham net during the first quarter of the Hopkinton boys lacrosse team’s 14-9 win on April 25, the Hawks’ senior attackman squared up to the right post, watched his defender drift from him and fired a bullet past the opposing goalkeeper for one of six goals on the day.

The sequence, no doubt a familiar one for the squad’s leading scorer, also provided a clear picture of Hopkinton thus far this season: dangerous, successful, at times dominant – and largely untested.

Such is the state of the Hawks, now at 5-0 entering a home date with John Stark on Wednesday, May 2.

The first part of the 2007 campaign has gone off without a hitch, with Hopkinton outscoring teams 62-31, and it’s also come with little challenge.

None of the Hawks’ first five opponents rank in the top half of the Division-III standings come mid-week, and despite the lopsided totals, they feel like they can be better in most aspects of the game. And they’ll need to be, coach Doug Maynard said, when the league’s other top teams come calling, starting with defending champion Kearsarge on Monday, May 7.

“That’s what I keep reinforcing in practice and everywhere else,” Maynard said. “(During the preseason) we scrimmaged against Brady, who is a good team, and I want them to do stuff that’s going to work against Brady, rather than stuff that’s going to do well against these teams we’ve been playing here.”

By no means did Maynard intend to belittle the teams Hopkinton has played,. But they, unlike Portsmouth, Laconia and Merrimack Valley, can’t exploit the areas the coach said his team needs to improve.

Those include basic concepts – grabbing ground balls and passing – to playing better team defense in front of first-year varsity goalies Graham Crews and Bryan Libby, who for now are still competing for the fulltime position.

Hopkinton has obviously done many things well, including scoring and putting teams away early. The Hawks went up 10-0 after one quarter in their opener against Kingswood and since, have averaged a five-goal lead or better at halftime.

But that doesn’t mean everything looks as clean as their win-loss total.

“We haven’t really reached our potential like we should,” said Porter, who leads the team with 38 points entering Wednesday. “We’re going to be facing some tough teams coming up, and we can’t play like we have been.

“But we’re definitely aware of that now,” he continued. “Once we reach that first (tough) opponent, we’ll be in for an awakening, but I think we can come out on top if we can keep practicing hard and fixing our mistakes.”

Hopkinton has many strong players it can turn to, including Porter, defenseman Nate Mosseau and David Wood and others such as Deacon Blue, Dave Roberts, Zac Sink and Doug Meyer.

While Meyer hasn’t provided the points like Blue, who has two three-point games, or Sink, who scored a hat trick along with Joe Dammann against Kingswood, Maynard said the junior has worked the hardest, does all the dirty work and “has probably been our best midfielder.”

The Hawks need more of the same from him and everyone else.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Porter said.

Championship target – Off strong ’06, Hopkinton aims higher

Bow Editor — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:19:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

The news may have derailed a different program, its head coach leaving after just its second year as a varsity squad. And, quite honestly, Steve Porter, the senior tri-captain of the Hopkinton boys lacrosse team, said his initial reaction was far from optimistic.

But even with the announcement last fall that their head coach and defending D-III Coach of the Year, Rick Senatore, was leaving to take the same position with the Saint Anselm College men’s program, the Hawks did not panic. No alarms went off, no white flags shot up.

After surprising all of Division III last spring with 12 wins and a run to the state semifinals, Hopkinton was no stranger to the unexpected. It also sees no reason why it can’t stay as acquainted with success.

“At first, I was like, ‘That’s not too good for our team,’” Porter said following a recent practice at the Harold Martin School. “But I started to think about it more, and I knew we had a strong core of players, I knew our captains could step it up, and we have two new strong coaches now.”

Translation: the Hawks have plans to fly as high as ever.

Led by 18 returning juniors and seniors and assistant-turned-head-coach Doug Maynard, Hopkinton has all the
ingredients to earn a return trip to D-III’s final four, and perhaps even more.

Porter, last year’s leading scorer, heads a group of four first-team all-state players who’ll reprise their roles for the team this year, including senior midfielder Deacon Blue, senior midfielder Dave Roberts and senior defenseman Nate Mosseau. Joining Mosseau in back is junior Dave Wood, an all-state honorable mention pick last season.

Senior midfielder Ben Metcalf and juniors Doug Meyer, Al Nielsen, Joe Dammann and Joe Harrington also will be counted upon this season in front of senior goalie Graham Crews, who’ll replace the since-graduated Tim Harritt, the only starter the Hawks lost.

Yet, perhaps the most important person to return won’t take one shot for Hopkinton all year. The team’s assistant coach under Senatore last spring, Maynard is starting his first season at the varsity team’s helm, though he’s hardly a newcomer.

The head coach of the Hawks’ club team in 2002 and 2003, Maynard, 58, is a former All-American midfielder at Wesleyan University, the coach at Bishop Brady when it won the D-II state title in 1998 and the former mentor at Southern New Hampshire University during the late 1970s and early ’80s.

Maynard said he’ll introduce subtle changes to Hopkinton’s offensive and defensive schemes this season, but the team won’t shy away from the aggressive style that carried it through last season.

“This is going to be a big year for us, I hope,” said Maynard, who’ll have Doug Mumford as an assistant. “But just because they’re returning nine of 10 starters doesn’t mean they’re not motivated to work even harder this year and do the things that need to be done to try and do better. Last year we took people by surprise. When I went to the high school coaches’ meeting, basically we’re not going to be sneaking up on people this year.
They’re going to be gunning for us.”

The Hawks are well aware of that, especially after defending champion Kearsarge lost several of its key players.

But others, like Laconia, Merrimack Valley and Hollis-Brookline, all look strong again, said Blue, one of the team’s other tri-captains with Mosseau.

Still, the added expectations to win – perhaps a first for Hopkinton – doesn’t scare the team.
“I think performing under pressure should be one of our strong points if we want to be a championship team,”
Blue said.

With a 10-man senior class that includes some of the town’s first players to join the Hopkinton Recreational Department league, a title is perhaps the only goal.