Everything came together in playoffs for Hollis Brookline boys lacrosse

Note: On June 10, the Hollis Brookline High School boys lacrosse team won its second Division III championship in the last three years by beating Derryfield 10-9 in double overtime. HB head coach Mike Soucy and players Ryan Papineau, Logan Blake and Joe Brooks got together recently to discuss their season and the title game.

The Hollis Brookline High School boys lacrosse team entered the 2014 season knowing it could be a good year.

Just how good the Cavaliers were going to be depended on a few things.

The year before, the Cavs were having a good season, running through the regular-season schedule undefeated before a blowout loss to eventual-champion Derryfield. HB ultimately fell to Hopkinton in the semifinals, and despite going 15-2 and making it that far in the postseason, no one was satisfied.

Fast forward to May 20 of this season, and the Cavs were right back were they were a year ago - undefeated and about to face Derryfield. And although HB lost that game, 14-5, there were things that encouraged coach Mike Soucy and his players.

For that game, the Cavs tried playing a zone defense that they'd never played in a game before, and Soucy felt the team did well when it was playing six-on-six.

"We had practiced it three or four days, and then we threw it out there for the first time," Soucy said. "I thought it worked well, in a six-on-six environment. We spent the rest of the season really perfecting that defense and trying to get better at it."

"I thought it was a good choice because we had so many new kids, the zone was an easier way to rotate everybody around," junior defenseman Joe Brooks said. "We had two of our poles at the bottom, who had the best stick skills, to rotate behind the crease. That was our best bet. Our six-on-six defense did awesome (in the regular season against Derryfield), it was the transitions that killed us. We couldn't clear the ball and we couldn't ride on them when they were clearing."

"The score of it didn't show how close a game it actually was because Derryfield was able to capitalize on all the mistakes that we made," senior attackman Ryan Papineau said. "Our clearing game and the amount of possession we had on offense was not enough, and they ran all over us and we couldn't slow them down."

After that loss, HB appeared to be back on track, winning its next two games, but dropped the regular-season finale to ConVal to finish the year 12-2 and again with the No. 3 seed.

But the loss seemed to help the Cavs as they went deeper in the playoffs.

"I think losing ConVal the way we did the week before refocused the guys," Soucy said. "I'm not going to say they were great every time, but our practices were more focused. We got a little more accomplished and every game thereafter, we played better.

"I thought when we played Milford (in the first round), it was one of the best games we played all year. We trumped that against John Stark (in the quarterfinals). We played even better when played Plymouth (in the semifinals), so I knew we were trending in the right direction. I knew we were going to play well and compete."

Going into the Division III championship game against Derryfield, it certainly helped the Cavs to have at least a handful of players who had some big-game experience. Papineau, Brooks and midfielder Sam Whitaker had all been a part of the HB team that beat Pelham in the D3 title game in 2012, and they tried to carry some of that experience with them.

"This whole season, I tried to do as many of the things that we did during that championship season (in 2012)," Papineau said. "I feel like having been in the final game took a lot of pressure off me because we'd been there before. I was trying to stay calm and get people to play their game, saying that is just a game. We play better when we’re focused and not fidgety. Being in that scenario before definitely helped staying calm and focused."

For Brooks, it was a moment to savor.

"I couldn't sleep very well the night before because I was pretty nervous," he said. "I didn't get to play a tremendous amount in the game, but I did play, and it made me want it even more these last two years. I wanted to be in the game the whole time and the environment. It was a new season, so it was a little different."

While the players and coaches might have felt they had a pretty good chance at beating Derryfield, they knew not everyone shared those feelings, not even those closest to them.

"I think a lot of our fans didn't think we were going to win that game, to be honest," senior goalie Logan Blake said. "I knew we were going to compete and that it would be a close game. They're probably more athletic than us, but overall, we're a better team."

"I've never been more calm going into a game and I've never been more calm in a game," Soucy said. "I think these guys are pretty driven. We had so many hiccups and setbacks throughout the course of the season that we had to continually invent the wheel. Guys going down injured, or illnesses we had throughout the season, guys missing practices for one reason or another, I think it took us a while to develop the cohesiveness that we needed."

HB fell behind early, but by late in the fourth quarter, the Cavs had rallied to tie the game 8-8 with under a minute to play. Then, with 29 seconds left in regulation, Papineau scored to put HB ahead.

"I wish I had one more timeout, that's what I was thinking," Soucy said. "We adjusted our wings for that faceoff and we pushed them more down toward the defense. Had I had that timeout, I would have told Sam (Whitaker) don't worry so much about winning that faceoff, just jam him, slow him down. We didn't have a timeout, so we couldn't relay that message, and Sam being the competitor that he is, is going to try to win that faceoff. Unfortunately, Griffin (Phaneuf) got it."

Phaneuf won the faceoff, raced down field and scored just six seconds later to tie the game back up and send it to overtime.

"I thought that was pretty much it, if we held our own," Brooks said. "Griffin was doing well on the faceoffs toward the end of the game. Logan did get his stick on there and it just slipped a little bit. It wasn't just him though, because we didn't have anyone step up quick enough on him."

"I should have had the save," Blake said. "You just shake it off. It's all mental, really, as a goalie. It's probably the toughest position mentally in any sport. You've got to shrug it off. You want to win and everything, but if after every goal you give up, you get mad and start yelling, it doesn't help you in the long run."

Blake needed to bounce back fast, as Derryfield dominated the four-minute overtime session. The HB goalie, who finished with 17 saves in the game, guesses he made five in the first overtime, none bigger than with three seconds to go.

"After the first overtime, it was just so tough," he said. "We were man down and I had a lot of good shots on me, somehow I was able to save them."

Derryfield then took a penalty at the end of overtime, giving HB the ball to start the second overtime. Given an opportunity to score, the Cavs took advantage of it.

"We set up an isolation play for (Papineau)," Soucy said. "It didn't work the first time, but he didn't force it either, he reset, found a gap and took it. Just the way the game was unfolding and watching Ryan move and how he was able to beat their best pole fairly consistently, I thought we had the opportunity to go."

"When we set it up, I saw the defense collapsing toward the crease," Papineau said. "I knew that if I got around, I would have gotten doubled, so I was hoping that if I did that, someone would get open and I might be able to make a pass. I tried dodging for a little and it wasn't going to work.

"I didn't want to force it, so I passed it and then I remembered that the sweeps worked well against Derryfield, so I switched and tried to get a dodge from the wing. I wanted everyone to clear from the top. I just went for it and saw the opening and took the shot. After the game, thinking about the shot, the angle probably wasn't the best, but the opportunity that presented itself was the best scenario I could think of. I was happy with it."

"I saw him shoot it and all I could see was the net popping out, so I knew it went in," Blake said. "I threw my hands up in the air and then I honestly don't remember what happened after that. I got mobbed."

The 10-9 double overtime win over Derryfield gave HB its third D3 boys lacrosse title, and likely it's last in some time, as the Cavs will move up to D2 for the 2015 season. Despite the move up, and the target that will be squarely on the Cavs' back, Soucy is encouraged by what he saw this year from players who will be returning.

"We’re losing 14 seniors, which is a lot, and some very key seniors," Soucy said. "It's always difficult to replace some of the guys you lose year to year, but you do it year to year, so you get accustomed to it. From what I saw throughout the course of the season, some of our younger guys and our inexperience guys were able to step up.

"We're going to put that challenge on these younger guys that it's their turn and their time to step up. We'll see. We'll do the best that we can to compete."