Laconia holds off Hopkinton rally to win D3 boys lacrosse championship (video)

EXETER - Steve McDonough knew the Laconia High School boys lacrosse team wasn't going to get off that easily.

Not in a championship game, not against a program like Hopkinton, and the Sachems coach was right.

But No. 4 Laconia was able to withstand a counterstrike by No. 2 Hopkinton, keeping the Hawks at bay for most of the fourth quarter, while making plays to secure a 12-10 win Sunday in the Division III championship game at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

The Sachems got out to a five-goal lead in the first half, but the Hawks needed less than three minutes at the start of the third quarter to cut the lead down to two. From there, Laconia (14-3) never led by more than three, but also never let Hopkinton (14-3) tie the game.

"We said at halftime, this is Hopkinton, they’re going to come out and punch us in the face," McDonough said. "If they don’t, great, but they’re going to. They did that. That third quarter went about as poorly as could be, except our kids just stayed grounded the whole time. They looked to the guy left of them, looked to the guy right of them, and they bought in. We’re state champs now."

Hopkinton cut the lead to a goal twice in the second half, including with 2:53 remaining in regulation, but Laconia's defense withstood a barrage of shots by the Hawks in the fourth quarter before Evan Rollins scored in the final minute to put the game away.

It's the first title for Laconia since 2016 and the fifth in program history.

Rollins finished with two goals while Cole Roy led the Sachems with four goals and Carson Tucker had three goals and an assist. Evan Garignan also scored twice and had a helper while Lucas Bean added a goal while goalie Cam Harriman had just six saves but came up with other big plays on defense for Laconia.

Zach Whitney and Edgar Conroy also came up big defensively, as the Hawks had 27 turnovers, including 15 in the first half. Many of those came in the second quarter, when Laconia was able to take advantage of Hopkinton's miscues to go on a 5-0 run that gave it an 8-3 lead at halftime.

"We weren’t getting our slides on defense," Hopkinton coach Deacon Blue said. "Our ride wasn’t quite there. They were outworking us on some groundball and we threw the ball away. It was a few things we did wrong.

"When we talked in the locker room, it was a lot about our mind state, our attitude, our energy, not so much what we were doing. We knew what to do, but I think it’s all a mental thing at that point. If we’re not having fun, we’re not playing well."

Quinn Whitehead led Hopkinton with four goals and Ryan Brown had three goals and an assist. Patrick Buss, Aidan Burns and Josh Duval also had a goal apiece and Eli Standefer made 15 saves.

It was Whitehead who got the scoring started for the Hawks in the third quarter. A shot by Hopkinton went wide of the goal, but the senior was able to get the groundball and get it past Harriman just 1:15 into the half.

Brown followed 22 seconds later to make it 8-5, and after some back-and-forth play, he scored again with 9:34 left in the quarter to get the Hawks within two goals and forced McDonough to take a timeout.

"They’ve just got a nose for the goal," Blue said of Whitehead and Brown. "They became a one-two punch up there on attack toward the end of the season and were finding each other well. That was part of the first half, we weren’t getting any possessions, and if those guys can’t the ball, they can’t score, it’s as simple as that."

Hopkinton won the faceoff after the timeout, but turned it over and was called for two penalties, including an unnecessary hit on Standefer. That meant backup goalie Merrick Chapin had to come in with Laconia up two players.

Roy scored 19 seconds later to put the Sachems back up by three goals, but Hopkinton got it back 1:25 later on a goal by Buss. Whitehead then made it a one-goal game with 5:57 left in the third, but Carignan scored 39 seconds later to put Laconia up 10-8.

"I try to not be for the guys, but for me, that was about as tense as I’ve been all year," McDonough said. "It certainly makes you feel good, where we weathered that and we’re playing, but you don’t want to let a team like Hopkinton gain some momentum and they did. Our defense dug in when they needed to."

The Sachems got a little more breathing room after Burns was called for an unnecessary hit at the end of the third. Tucker scored 41 seconds into the fourth on the manup opportunity to give Laconia an 11-8 lead, but the Hawks were determined to come back again.

Hopkinton dominated possession for close to five minutes, firing 10 shots toward the Laconia goal before Whitehead scored with 6:37 remaining to make it 11-9.

After Laconia won the faceoff, Hopkinton's Avery Condon was called for an unnecessary hit, but the Hawks killed off the manup and went back to work on offense.

While Hopkinton was able to keep possession again, the Hawks struggled to score until Burns found the back of the net with 2:53 left to make it a one-goal game again.

"When the pressure is on at that point, you’ve got to go," Blue said. "A lot of teams take their time too much and go at the regular tempo when there is eight minutes left and you’re down two. To me, you’ve got to just go. It can happen fast, but when you only have that much time, it’s tough to do, so you really just have to go. They responded well, they got a goal, but Laconia got one back on us, so that made it tough."

Laconia won the ensuing faceoff, but turned it over, and Hopkinton took a timeout with 1:55 remaining and the ball near midfield.

"Defense, we’ve relied on you all year, if we’re going to win a championship, it’s you again," McDonough said of the talk during the timeout. "Our defense has been phenomenal. If we’re going to win a championship, you guys are going to have to go and make some plays. They did that."

The teams traded turnovers out of the timeout, with Hopkinton getting the ball back inside midfield with 1:05 to play. But a pass from Buss sailed over the head of Burns and looked like it would roll out of bounds.

Instead, it stopped in the far corner. Harriman scooped up the groundball and heaved it toward the opposite end of the field, where Rollins came up with it and scored with 45.9 seconds left.

"If it’s under a minute and you get the ball, just send it, because that’s going to make it harder for them to work," McDonough said. "We’ll have to deal with that in our ride. Just sent it and we made a play on it, and Evan Rollins was able to jam it home."