BOW – The Hawks and Falcons battled it out in Bow on Monday afternoon, and Hopkinton found a way to come back and snatch victory, 14-8, from Bow in a significant game for both teams early in the season.

Both fell in the Division III semifinals last season and are vying for a return to the final four. Although in the grand scheme of the season, this game might not have a huge impact on getting back there, it was a huge victory for the Hawks and a blow to Bow amid a tough stretch of opponents.

A tale of two halves

Hopkinton’s sophomore midfielder Autumn Meier opened the scoring quickly after the initial face-off win by senior attacker Sydney Westover. From there, chaos ensued.

Both teams traded shots and saves equally, but Bow’s offense cut Hopkinton’s ball movement well and generated turnovers to score quickly on the other end. The first quarter ended with the Falcons ahead, 5-3. Vita Flagg scored one more for Bow halfway through the second quarter, and suddenly the game changed.

Bow seemed comfortable and patient with a three-goal lead, and Hopkinton knew it had to change something. Suddenly, the Hawks started pushing much harder on defense and generating turnovers in the midfield to launch attacks, which led to two goals in the last two minutes of the half.

That momentum carried over into the third, and Hopkinton’s offense fired away on goal, with very few missed chances, as they found clever individual cuts into the zone to score five and take a 10-6 lead.

Coach Gus Madden was very happy with how his team executed on offense, but was particularly impressed with his team staying solid defensively during the comeback. He said his team has put extra effort into clicking and getting wins.

“They’re impressing me. Their one-on-one is good, and their help is good. There are a few situations where we have to work on that second slide and work on our clear, which they executed today, which was good,” he said.

In the fourth quarter, junior captain Maeve Owens and senior attacker Sydney Westover solidified it with two goals each and sealed the game for the Hawks. It was also the first career win for senior goalie Grace Hodgdon.

100’s galore

Bow’s sophomore goalie, Gianna Trott, made her 100th career save early in the first quarter. She had only let in nine goals in three games and managed to get four saves on Monday to reach the mark.

Despite the scoreline, Trott had a solid game in the net and will continue to be a cornerstone for head coach Chris Raabe’s squad moving forward.

“She’s a great goalie. She had some good stops, and they had some nice shots. They were putting them to the pipes, that’s a goal every time, so she’ll probably be mad, but it'll make her better too,” Raabe said.

Hopkinton’s Maeve Owens, also notched a 100 mark of her own as her fifth and final goal of the game helped her reach 100 career goals. She said it felt amazing to finally put everything the team has worked on in practice on display and to come away with a big win.

“It feels great. I’ve been working at this, I'm a junior, so three years. I’m going to play in college, so I'm excited, and I feel like it's good momentum to begin the season,” added Owens.

The road ahead

Bow has a tough game ahead against St. Thomas, the defending D-III champions who beat Hopkinton in last year’s semifinal and is still undefeated this season. The Falcons have already beaten the team that eliminated them last year, Gilford, and have plenty of games ahead. This may be a blip on the radar in hindsight, but it did raise issues that Raabe wants to address.

“I'd like to see them, throw and catch, and maybe not send grenades to one another. So I think they're going to learn,” said Raabe.

Hopkinton showed what it can do on its best day, but will need to do so consistently moving forward to move up in the standings. Its next three games are at home against Concord Christian, Milford and Lebanon.