BEDFORD – The clock winded down at the end of the second half in the Division III semifinal with the game still tied, 0-0, and the Hopkinton Hawks earned a corner on the left wing with seven minutes remaining.

Junior midfielder, Fin Murphy, sent a low-driven cross to the near post that junior forward, Nolan Linstad was able to redirect into the back of the goal with his chest ahead of the St. Thomas goalkeeper’s hands to put his team ahead, 1-0, and punching No. 1 Hopkinton’s ticket to Saturday’s D-III championship game.

“Fin saw me wide open, nobody was covering me,” said Linstad. “He just put a perfect pass right to my chest I kind of bopped it in there and then the rest is history.”

Thanks to Wednesday’s 1-0 win against the No. 4 Saints (13-4-2), the top-ranked Hawks (18-0-1) have a chance to complete an undefeated season in Saturday’s final when they take on the No. 2 Mascoma Valley Royals (15-0-4)  at Bedford High School.

The Hopkinton crowd was loud and proud, and cheered with green pom-poms, cowbells, and shouts in the second semifinal game contested at Bedford High on Wednesday. Despite the fans having their heads in the game, Hopkinton started shaky. 

“We knew that the first 10 minutes, it often happens in games like these,” said Hopkinton’s head coach, Scott Zipke. “Sometimes you got to just wait for that intensity to calm down and then start playing your game. And I felt like we did that.”

The Saints gave trouble to the Hawks early with a fast and high press that forced some early mistakes in the back line, which they could not capitalize but easily could have. Junior midfielder Aaron Page had two one-on-one chances in front of the goal but shot both to Hopkinton’s goalkeeper Travis Windhurst (five saves) who corralled them easily.

The Hawks had been rolling through their opponents all season through tough, disciplined, and well-organized ball movement. They had faced the Saints earlier in the season and emerged victorious with a scrappy 3-2 win. 

“They played us as tough as anybody this year and at their place, they went up. We had to come back and win on a couple of great individual efforts,” said Zipke.

That game snapped the Saints’ 11-game undefeated streak and it was the Hawks’ only win decided by a one-goal difference. Hopkinton remained undefeated, its only tie coming against their biggest challenger in the division, now second-seeded Mascoma Valley, 1-1. 

Unsurprisingly, the Saints tried to exact revenge and strike early and fast against the Hawks in the semifinal.

“We practiced to learn from their long throws from the corners, you know. And I would say 99% of them, we defended really well. And just that one goes in and it's a heartbreak. But I thought the boys played really well and showed a lot of effort today,” said St. Thomas’ head coach Ethan Rech.

Getting through the Saints was a challenge Hopkinton could pull off, but it would be their biggest challenge in the playoffs, after a close win against Kearsarge in the quarterfinal, 2-1. The shaky start did not paralyze the team, and the Hawks slowly regained their composure and played the possession-heavy brand of soccer that had led to their dominance.

The Saints were on a roll going into the semifinal, achieving two, huge, 4-0, wins over Fall Mountain and Trinity, but they needed an even bigger result to overcome the high-flying Hawks.

The Saints seemed a much-improved team compared to when they faced Hopkinton in the season. The Hawks, on the other hand, played better, had more corners, but could not find clear shots on the net. Both defenses were wary to push for the result too hard or too early, and so the score remained 0-0 at the half, much to the Hawks’ frustration. 

The game became increasingly physical in the second half as the ball flew back and forth and both tried to gain an edge behind the opposing back line. Saint Thomas’ forwards were pushing the Hawks’ defenders and trying to get on the end of through balls and crosses dropped in by the midfield. 

Legs grew heavy after a match where both teams chased the ball all over the pitch, but Linstad, continued to chase the ball down in dangerous areas to create chances.

“We just kept coming and my guys didn't get didn't get anxious,” said Zipke.

Meanwhile, the Saints’ sophomore goalkeeper, Ben Puertas, had kept his goal at zero with nine saves and a dominant performance going up to punch and catch incoming balls.

“Coming into this we didn't even know who our goalie was going to be, and from his performance tonight, it was rock solid from him,” said Rech. “They understand the game, they understand the plan, now, that we are trying to execute. And I think we just keep building off of that and we'll be back.”

Set pieces were something the Hawks had been efficient at scoring from all season, and finally, Linstad got his chest on the end of a corner kick to the near post by Murphy to win the game.

“We knew how good they were, a very good team, and they play nice soccer. They’re doing the right stuff, and they're all, seems like they’re all underclassmen, so we're gonna have to deal with them for a while,” Zipke said.

The No. 1 Hopkinton Hawks will face the other undefeated team in D-III, the No. 2 Mascoma Valley Royals (15-0-4), who beat No. 3 Prospect Mountain, 2-1, on the opposite side of the bracket. Zipke said he expected the game to be a physical battle that he hopes his team can win.

“If we play as hard as we did today, there's no doubt in my mind that we’ll win and that's the end goal,” said Linstad. “We just got to play as hard as we can, leave it all on the field and what happens happens.”

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com