The only soccer game I covered all year, but I picked the right one. The Hingham side was pursuing their third straight state title. Maybe it's been done before, but even so, an amazing feat. Going against an opponent they'd faced in the title game two seasons before added to the sauce. Naturally, it went to overtime. This may be my favorite story so far.
HINGHAM GIRLS CAPTURE 3RD STRAIGHT MASS SOCCER CROWN
LYNN, MA. November 20, 2016
After over 90 minutes of hitting posts and cross-bars and being repeatedly frustrated by Arlington’s senior keeper Emilia Brush, Hingham’s Harbormen finally prevailed in overtime on senior Eve Hewin’s clutch goal to win an unprecedented third straight Division 2 state girls soccer title 2-1 Saturday at Manning Field.
This match-up of two tournament tough teams had all the makings of a great one. It lived up to the hype and added an intriguing backstory for good measure.
Arlington, an under estimated 7th seed, had marched through the North bracket outscoring opponents 14 – 2 with 3 shut-outs in 4 games and had plenty of extra incentive having lost to this same Hingham team in the 2014 final 3-2. So for the Spy Ponders it was pay back time.
Top seeded Hingham came out of the South with a gaudy 20-0-1 record and a seasoned and talented core of seniors intent on an unprecedented third straight state championship.
The contest became a battle between Hingham’s relentless attacks led by Hewins, junior forward Caroline Harkins and sophomore Kira Maguire and the deft defending of Brush and her back line anchored by seniors Elizabeth Horgan and Olivia Jones.
In the early going Arlington had the better of it. With just over 3 minutes gone senior striker Mackenzie Sheriff fielded one of many booming punts from Brush, maneuvered past the last remaining Hingham defender and launched a drive that just missed the upper left corner.
20 minutes later the Spy Ponders drew first blood on their only corner kick of the half as junior Abigail Ewen headed the kick to senior striker Anna Kohlberg. Kohlberg’s shot was redirected on an alert one-touch finish by Sherriff and the underdog Spy Ponder’s had the lead.
Despite Hewins, Harkins and Maguire’s virtually constant presence in dangerous places, the score remained 1-0 Arlington until the 28:24 mark when Harbormen senior midfielder Emily Rosso delivered a picture perfect free kick from the Arlington 25–a thing of beauty soaring over the wall and dipping just under the bar into the upper left corner to tie the game at 1.
Asked if that changed the game’s momentum Rosso said, “We felt the game was back in our hands. We were confident that we’d get another. It was just a matter of time.”
From this point on the inspired Harbormen increased the pressure. At the 23 minute mark Maguire, taking a header set-up from Rosso turned and launched a rocket from the 15 that caromed off the cross-bar.
A few moments later Harkins had a great chance from about 12 yards out that was foiled by yet another Brush save.
The Harbormen sustained their pressure in overtime. With 3 minutes gone Harkins slipped a perfect through ball to a sprinting Hewins on the left side at the 30. It looked like Hewins would be in alone, but Horgan, recovering desperately from the other side of the field arrived just in time to bother Hewins whose shot bounced off Brush, then off the post where it was finally cleared from danger.
The final dramatic play of this hard fought affair illustrated why Hingham is undefeated.
It started with a fast throw-in from the right sideline by sophomore Emily Meservy at the Arlington 25.
Maguire received the throw with two Arlington defenders in her shirt but somehow managed to escape and deliver a perfect centering pass for Hewins.
Hewins, precisely timing her diagonal run through the box, split two defenders, controlled the pass on the run, touched it once to get it on her right foot, then slipped the ball past Brush to the far post side from an almost impossible angle, as the celebration and screams of “Threepeat,” echoed through Manning Field
The ending seemed inevitable given Hingham’s relentless attack reflected by their 14 shots on goal against only 4 for Arlington and 10 corners vs. 3.
But what made it seem more inevitable, for those fans who knew it, was the backstory.
This game was literally history repeating itself. Rosso’s game tying goal and Hewin’s winner were a delayed replay of exactly what happened when the same two teams met for the same title two years ago.
Arlington fans will be delighted to see these all too familiar Hingham seniors graduate while the Hingham faithful will be checking the record books to see the last time, if ever, a girls soccer team has won three consecutive state titles.
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