HADLEY — The Hopkins Academy boys soccer team rallied from an early deficit to beat Hampden Charter, 5-2, in the first round of the Western Massachusetts Division 4 Tournament, Monday.
The seventh-seeded Golden Hawks (7-10-2) advance to the quarterfinals where they will go on the road to face No. 2 Lenox (8-8-0).
“We didn’t start the way we wanted,” Hopkins coach C.J. Holt said. “A few seconds in and we’re chasing a goal already. Their intensity was really high. I told the boys from the start that we needed to stay level-headed and focused. It was a good lesson for the boys and we got the result so we can’t be too disappointed.”
The Wolves (9-8-2) opened the scoring very early with a goal by Brendon Mersincavage that was assisted by Colby Ranck less than a minute after the opening kick.
Hampden had a chance to build on its lead a few minutes later when forward Jonathan Rosemond drew a penalty. Rosemond stepped up to take the shot but sailed it just over the crossbar.
The two teams played each other even until the 28th minute when Hopkins midfielder Gregory Kucinski put away a through ball from Josiah Beck to even the score at 1-1.
A few minutes later, the pair led to a score again. Kucinski was fouled in the box and earned a penalty. Beck took the shot and got it past the goalkeeper to put Hopkins up 2-1.
The score remained that way until the second half when Hopkins turned the game in its favor.
In the 57th minute, Golden Hawks forward Patrick Fitzgibbons put a shot into the back of the net off an Andrew Czajkowski assist to extend the Hopkins lead to 3-1.
Four minutes later, senior Aidan Michalak scored his first varsity goal off of a rebound to bring the lead to 4-1.
Michalak didn’t stop there. He scored his second goal of the game just a minute later after taking the ball on a mistake by the defender. His second goal brought the Golden Hawks’ lead to 5-1.
Michalak was named team captain after missing all of last season due to a torn ACL. In what could’ve been his final game of his high school career, Michalak put two goals away to extend Hopkins’ season.
“When I got the first one, it felt great,” Michalak said. “I’ve been trying for so long. The last couple of games I’d been playing up at striker and I just haven’t gotten one. Once I finally got those two, it felt really good and it felt like I was finally giving back to my team and helping us move forward.”
The Wolves cut into the deficit in the 75th minute when Rosemond found the back of the net but it was too late.