By Mike Abelson (@ABELS0N)
TYNGSBORO - You only play your first state tournament game once, and the Hopedale Blue Raiders left one whale of a first impression.
The fourth-year program took Tyngsboro’s best shot, and made two big comebacks, before the Tigers found the shot they needed to pull off a wild 11-10 triple-overtime win under a baking hot Sun.
The Blue Raiders trailed 6-3 at halftime and 10-8 with three minutes left in the game, but battled back both times during this thrilling Division 3 Central/East quarterfinal.
“You try to do everything in your power to prevent getting a slow start even though we started slow, it is what it is,” Hopedale coach Eric Moxim said. “All of the sudden it was 6-3 at one point and a train ride out of town. The D got literal takeaways when they had to. The offense put the ball in the net when the had to.”
The Blue Raiders battled hard but had no answer for Tyngsboro star Kyle Laforge.
The UMass-Lowell commit had three goals and five assists. All of his goals came after halftime. None was bigger than when he put home the game winner just under two minutes into the third overtime.
“I knew it was going to be a good game,” Laforge said. “We got it done. A lot of guys stepped up today. It felt good to get that one.”
Laforge led a deep offensive attack for the Tigers. Freshman attackman Mitchell Anderson had two goals and an assist, while fellow freshman Josh Fairbanks had two goals in the first quarter.
The game built throughout as the Tigers set the tone with long stretches of possession. Tyngsboro led for nearly the entire game; Hopedale grab an 8-7 lead in the third quarter, but the Tigers tied it 56 seconds later.
“We’re a young team,” Tyngsboro coach Kyle Brady said. “We’re breaking in a lot of new guys, and it shows at times. As the season’s gone on we’ve grown, rallied from them, and stayed positive through it.”
As exciting as regulation was, the overtime periods were even more so. Both teams were hit by the turnover bug as they feverishly looked for the game-winning goal. Hopedale junior goalie Daniel Hollis came up huge in the early overtime periods with three big saves to keep the Blue Raiders in it. Hollis finished with 26 saves, including five in the extra periods.
At one point it looked as though Hopedale senior J.D. Waswill had the winner in the second overtime, but Tyngsboro goalie Dan Powers scooped the ball up inches from the goal line.
GROWING THE PROGRAM
Four years ago there was no Hopedale lacrosse team. Moxim was brought on board to grow a program from nothing and success has followed.
Three wins in year one grew to seven in year two, and nine in year three. This year, as the first full senior class graduates, the Blue Raiders posted 13 wins. Players like Waswill, who had two goals and three assists against Tyngsboro, were rewarded with a tournament berth.
“This was an unbelievable season,” Waswill said. “We couldn’t ask for anything more. Of course we’d want to win the game, but this season has been unreal and was a huge step for what we want to do for the program.”
Going forward the program is in good hands. Junior middie Jake Wollensak had a hat trick and Hollis returns as well, along with high-scoring freshman Blake Moxim. Ethan Warren, only an eighth grader, had a huge goal in the third quarter for the Blue Raiders.
Tyngsboro will move on to face the winner of the Ashland at Dover-Sherborn game in the Division 3 Central/East semifinals.
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