Hopkinton girls lacrosse wins battle of unbeatens over Derryfield (video)

MANCHESTER - Tim Bassett knew his Hopkinton High School girls lacrosse team was going to face some adversity going into Monday's game against Derryfield.

Some of it would come from the Cougars, but the Hawks coach was also prepared for some of it to come from his players.

Hopkinton was able to overcome both, despite some early nerves and some outstanding defensive play from Derryfield, to keep its perfect record intact with an 11-5 win over the Cougars in Division III action.

"They are always nervous coming here," Bassett said. "It’s always a tough facility to play at. They powered through."

The Hawks (8-0) were also able to find ways to beat Derryfield goalie Shawna Lesmerises, who came up big early in the game to keep Hopkinton from breaking it open. The sophomore finished with 21 saves, including five in the first six minutes, to go along with a handful of forced turnovers.

"We knew their goalie, we’ve seen her before, and she’s just an amazing athlete," Bassett said. "We knew we were going to get multiple shots rejected on us and we were going to have to ride really hard to get that ball back. They did a great job. They are an athletic team and they like to run, so we had to keep adjusting and adjusting to make sure we were at the right spots at the right time."

Lyndon Flanagan led the Hawks with four goals, three of which came in the second half to help Hopkinton pull away, and also had two assists. Amelia Bassett (assist) and Ellie Morrall (two assists) each added three goals and Sophia Staples-Roy also scored.

Elizabeth Berliner made seven saves in goal, many of which came in situations where Derryfield (6-1) could have swung some momentum.

"I thought they were phenomenal, I was so proud of (the defense)," Flanagan said. "Lucy Licata and Olivia Strong, they’re very strong players. I know they can take a one-on-one drive and our defense did a really good job shutting them down. It was awesome to see."

Both Strong and Licata finished with two goals and an assist each, while Sydney Socha added a goal and an assist for the Cougars.

"We did not play our game," Derryfield coach Mellissa Catenza said. "That is not our potential. We made crazy passes. Our defense, and our goalie, is off-the-charts amazing. That’s what kept us in the game. You can’t rely on just the two to always score. Everybody needs to get involved. We were making crazy choices. We were impatient."

Derryfield opened the game with a turnover on its first six possessions, and by the time the Cougars were able to put a shot on goal, they already trailed 2-0. Despite that, it was just a 4-2 lead for Hopkinton at halftime, after Morrall and Licata traded goals in the final two minutes of the first half.

The Hawks came out strong to start the second half, scoring twice in the first 1:06 to take a 6-2 lead. Strong got one of the goals back to make it 6-3 with 21:58 left in the game, but Flanagan scored twice over the next 10 minutes, the second of which made it 8-3 with 11:08 to go.

"That was the first time in the whole game where I saw the nerves drop and they could say we’re in control," Tim Bassett said. "That got us to that spot where we could take a breath and play."

Both teams go on the road for their next game on Wednesday, as Derryfield heads to Campbell and Hopkinton will travel to Bow.