Thursday, June 1, 2017

Westwood Pulls Away From Hopkinton in D2 Central/East Showdown



By Nate Weitzer (@nweitzer7)

HOPKINTON, Mass. - Familiar Tri-Valley League foes Hopkinton and Westwood were locked in a stalemate at Hopkinton High when Wolverines attack Jake Antonucci took over. 

The junior scored four goals and assisted on another late in the third quarter to snap a 22-minute scoreless drought for Westwood, paving the way to a 10-7 victory in a second round Division 2 Central/East matchup on Thursday afternoon.

This marks the third time this season that Westwood (13-7) has beaten Hopkinson (14-5), as the Wolverines denied the Hillers a shot at a share of the TVL title with an 11-10 victory just two weeks ago.

“We joked before the game that we just took our scouting report from two weeks ago, changed the date, and handed it back out,” said Westwood coach 
Todd Zahurak. 

“Our game plan was to get the ball to Jake [Antonucci]. He begins and ends our offense and it’s no secret that we run a lot through him.”

It was an offensive showcase early on with both teams trading scores in a seven-goal first quarter. In the second, the defenses shored up while both Hopkinton goalie Ryan Bannon (14 saves) and Westwood’s Chris Adrian (10 saves) made several key stops.

Will Abbott (2 goals, 2 assists) scored towards the end of the second to make it 4-4 heading into halftime and the defensive battle continued over the first 10 minutes of the third. 

But that’s when Antonucci (6 goals, assist) broke the deadlock with a flurry of offense, before adding another two scores early in the fourth. 

Once the Hillers defense began to key in on Antonucci, Wolverines attack Connor Deehan (2 goals) added a score to open a 10-4 lead early in the fourth quarter. 

Despite a late comeback effort from Hopkinton juniors DJ Sloan (4 goals, assist) and Will Abbott (2 goals, 2 assists), the Wolverines were able to hang on and will advance to face the winner of Medfield/Wayland in the sectional semifinals. 

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