Hopkinton boys lacrosse rallies late, beats Trinity in triple OT (video)

MANCHESTER - After nearly 60 minutes of play, the Hopkinton High School boys lacrosse team decided to go back to basics.

For most of the night, Trinity's defense and goalie Chase Hunt gave the Hawks fits, as the keeper stopped just about everything they'd thrown at him.

With the Pioneers having just killed off a manup opportunity, Hopkinton recognized there was a mismatch on the field and got the ball around to Aidan Burns, who made a move to get open and finally beat Hunt with 1:11 left in triple overtime Friday night to give the Hawks a 3-2 win at Derryfield Park.

"We ran our normal manup plays and then they went even," Burns said. "We saw the mismatch, we ran one of our iso plays. They saw I had the mismatch and threw it up to me. My teammates did a great job clearing out, I made a quick move and shot with power and accuracy, it went in."

The Hawks swarmed Burns and celebrated a win that saw them go scoreless for 41-plus minutes to start the game. Trinity led 2-0 on two goals by Lucas Frazier, but Quinn Whitehead scored twice in the fourth quarter, including the game-tying goal with 1:02 remaining - and the Hawks a man down - to send the game to overtime.

"They played hard," Hopkinton coach Deacon Blue said. "We got a lot of good shots. Credit to their goalie. We struggled to get penetration, so we took a lot of good shots, but they were outside shots and their goalie was stopping them."

Hopkinton (5-1) took 55 shots, 45 of which came in regulation, and the Hawks controlled possession for long stretches, keeping the Pioneers pinned back in their hybrid zone defense.

Coming off its first loss of the season, a 15-12 setback against Campbell on Thursday, Blue could see it take a while for his guys to get back up at the start of the game.

"We were definitely a little sluggish," the coach said. "I think we got momentum from (Thursday) even though we got a loss. We saw we could contend with a top team like Campbell and rolled into (Friday) with confidence. We could have gotten down that we weren’t scoring, that it was so low, but we kept at it. These guys have great attitudes and are always positive. They have the ability to rise up and overcome."

For Trinity (5-2), it was also a big departure defensively from the Pioneers' last outing, a 19-8 defeat on Monday, also at the hands of Campbell.

"From Monday, that’s a complete 180," Trinity coach Mike Martinez said. "I’ve been pretty confident in what our defense can do and they showed it. You hold a team like Hopkinton to zero goals to three quarters ...

"We worked and decided that we were going to go a little hybrid action, change up some things. With some inexperienced players, identifying the one, the two, the three, in the man (defense) was a little more complicated. We went in practice the last two days in practice in the zone and guys picked it up, how to move, how to slide."

But while the defense was improved, Trinity struggled on clears, turning the ball over 31 times, and on several occasions, failing to possess the ball over midfield.

"It rears it’s ugly head," Martinez said. "It’s something we’ve known since the beginning of the year. We continue to keep working on it and we’ll keep going at it."

Despite that, Frazier's first goal, a manup strike with 25.2 seconds left in the first half, gave Trinity a 1-0 lead at the break.

The Hawks again dominated possession to open the second half, but midway through the third quarter, the Pioneers capitalized on a Hopkinton turnover, with Frazier scoring against to make it 2-0 with 6:19 left in the frame.

Hopkinton had a couple of manup opportunities over the final five minutes of the quarter, but couldn't find the back of the net to keep it a two-goal game going into the fourth.

Hawks goalie Eli Standefer came up with a save to open the fourth, and after some back and forth in the midfield, Trinity was called for a penalty with 6:57 left. Hopkinton took advantage, as Whitehead scored just 27 seconds later to make it 2-1.

The Hawks continued to control possession, but Hunt and the Pioneers' defense were able to keep them off the board. Hopkinton turned the ball over with 2:29 to play and took a penalty moments later, going a man down with 1:48 remaining.

But Trinity was called for a crease violation moments later, giving the Hawks the ball, and after a timeout, Whitehead scored to tie the game with 1:02 to go. Hopkinton's Connor Tewksbury won the ensuing faceoff, but Hunt stopped the Hawks' final shot and the game went to overtime.

Both teams had chances throughout the overtimes, including a manup opportunity to start an extra session. Trinity was assessed a conduct foul after the end of the first OT, giving Hopkinton a 30-second manup, while a trip on the Hawks at the end of the second OT put the Pioneers on the advantage to start the third.

Neither could capitalize until Burns sent everyone home before the end of triple overtime.

"It’s huge," he said. "It’s one of those things, we were beat up from (Thursday), but it came down to just the grit these guys have. We put in the work and we all trusted each other. The grit these guys had at the end of the game, we had to dig deep."