This season felt different.
After the first three games of the season, we were 1-2, and it seemed we would have another season like the two previous, floating around .500: nowhere near state championship caliber. We did not know at the time, however, that the teams we had lost to would end up losing two games combined all season long. We lost to Hollis-Brookline in the season opener by two goals, and a week later we were defeated by Kearsarge in sudden death overtime.
That was the last time Hopkinton lacrosse suffered a defeat.
As the season progressed and the wins began to pile up, it became more and more apparent that this team was better than the past two teams I had been on. Games came and went, and the number in the win column kept growing and growing. The loss column had a “two” in it for over two months.
The two was still there when we entered the state tournament as the four seed, giving us a first round bye, and an opportunity at home to advance to Stellos Stadium. We opened with a matchup against fifth-seeded Plymouth, and won easily, 10-3.
We were headed to Stellos.
On Saturday, June 4, we walked onto the field at Stellos Stadium underdogs against top-seeded Kearsarge, the only team in Division III without a loss. Two months prior, we had fallen to these same Cougars in overtime, and that proved to be an omen. After 48 minutes, the score was tied at nine.
Kearsarge won the opening faceoff of the overtime, and quickly set up their offense in the our end. After passing it around for about a minute, Hopkinton senior captain Brooks Wood forced a turnover and sprinted down the field with the ball.
There was little doubt what he was about to attempt on the Hopkinton bench. All spring in practice, we had watched with awe as Brooks ripped shots just under the crossbar on our own goalies. We all knew he would be looking to do exactly the same right now.
He did.
The bench emptied, the crowd exploded. We were going to our first state championship game in the lacrosse program’s history, where we would face Division III’s cinderella, tenth-seeded Gilford.
The Kearsarge game had been so intense and entertaining, it was hard to put it behind us, but we had to immediately look to Gilford.
By the time Monday rolled around, we were prepared and anxious for our shot to bring Hopkinton its first state championship in lacrosse. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game, but we were heavily favored, and had beaten Gilford in the regular season. In the locker room before the game, Coach Maynard said a quote that no doubt resinated in all of our minds.
“This isn’t for me, this one is for you guys, your school. When you’re driving on (Interstate) 93 when you’re older and you drive by this exit, I want you to remember what happened here on this night. I don’t want you to have to forget it.”
Most of us won’t forget that night for a long time.
Storming the field following the win.
Losing my helmet after hurling it in the air in triumph.
The police escort, rolling back to the school singing Sum 41’s “Fat Lip.”
I may not have stepped foot on that field during the course of play that night, but it’s still not a night I’m ever going to forget. I didn’t have a role in the outcome of a single game all season long, but I was still a member of the first state champion lacrosse team in Hopkinton High School history.
And that’s still pretty damn cool, I think.
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