HADLEY — Frontier Regional’s Zach Hamilton measured six steps back from the soccer ball placed to the right and behind the semicircle at the top of the 18-yard box.
He paused three seconds to line up a free kick, the Red Hawks’ best chance to break a scoreless deadlock with Hopkins Academy.
Eight minutes had passed in the second half when Hamilton began his approach with five choppy steps. He took a full stride with his left leg and contacted the ball with his right boot. It shot over the Golden Hawks’ four-man wall and began to dip. Hopkins keeper Erik Berg dove up and to his left.
The crossbar rang hollow.
The ball ricocheted out to a clump of Hopkins players, and central defender Mike Curran cleared the danger.
“I was really mad,” Hamilton said. “I thought it was going in.”
That’s as close as either team got to a goal before or after in a 0-0 draw Monday at Hopkins Academy.
It marked a stark turnaround for the Golden Hawks (4-7-2, 2-2-2 Schmid), who lost to Frontier (5-3-3, 4-0-1) 4-0 on Sept. 19.
“The score last time was lopsided, but the game itself wasn’t as indicative as the score necessarily. We had some chances, missed a penalty last game,” Hopkins coach C.J. Holt said. “We can’t make mistakes against a good team like that, and we limited our mistakes to close to zero.”
Frontier struggled to generate chances in open play.
Its best opportunities arose directly from free kicks or in the scrambles that followed.
“It was our lack of effort and will off the ball. We’ve been playing pretty slowly lately,” Frontier senior Dan Bronke said. “We just have to find that heart again, and we’ve just got to click.”
The Red Hawks are mired in a rough stretch of form. They are 1-2-2 in their last five games with the only win coming 2-0 against Smith Academy on Wednesday.
“It’s been an issue the past week or so. I’ve never had trouble getting our team to compete, and all of a sudden we’ve hit this lull,” Frontier coach Dale Totman said. “You’ve just got to push different buttons, change up routines, something to change the energy.”
Hopkins certainly did its part to disrupt the Red Hawks’ flow.
Frontier rarely possessed the ball in the penalty box, and the Golden Hawks closed down on Frontier’s shots outside the 18.
“We know our strengths. The two outside backs are two of the fastest guys on our team,” Curran said. “I’ve been playing with Trevor (Fil) for like three years. We know where to go.”
Hopkins changed formations in between its two games against Frontier. The Golden Hawks played a 4-4-2 in their September loss and moved to a 4-1-3-2 on Monday.
“We wanted to attack them more. When we concede once everyone gets down and it’s hard to come back,” Curran said.
Hopkins possessed the ball in the middle of the field but couldn’t find a final, incisive ball.
Holt took a timeout with 12 minutes remaining and a throw coming in from the right. The set piece led to a long range shot that sailed over the bar.
A crossing free kick four minutes later couldn’t find a Hopkins head or foot to direct it toward the goal.
Peter Bronke had three saves for Frontier, while Berg also had three.
“We’ll take the point, but I don’t think anyone would feel we stole a point,” Holt said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.