Div. 4 boys soccer: Hampshire Regional falls to Lynnfield in state semifinals (PHOTOS)

LEOMINSTER – With nine minutes and 30 seconds left in the MIAA Division 4 boys soccer semifinals and No. 3 Hampshire Regional trying to mount a two-goal comeback, Dan Martin — one of the Raiders’ top offensive weapons — found himself in front of the net with nobody in his way.

A cross had been sent in, and Brendan Stevenson got his head on it to deflect it Martin’s way. Martin got a foot on the bouncing ball, but redirected it just over the cross bar and out of bounds.

That one play symbolized Hampshire’s night, as it had plenty of offensive chances but couldn’t find the back of the net until the final minute in a 2-1 loss to No. 2 Lynnfield on Tuesday night at Doyle Field.

“We wanted to make it 2-1 early in the second half, and we had a few chances,” Raiders head coach Dan Moynahan said. “We had [a chance] earlier that would’ve put a lot more pressure on them.”

Lynnfield moves on to the Div. 4 state final to play No. 9 Monomoy on Saturday at a location and time to be announced. Hampshire finished its stellar season 19-1-3.

Trailing 2-0 late, Stevenson found room in the box after a large pile up took place following an initial missed shot. The ball found Stevenson away from the chaos, and he buried it home to cut the deficit in half with under a minute to play.

It was too little too late.

“When you’re down two, you’ve gotta get that next goal,” Moynahan said. “We didn’t get that next goal until obviously [too] late in the game.”

Even when the odds were mounting against Hampshire as each second ticked away, the energy and effort never disappeared. The Raiders put the pressure on for the entire second half and kept the ball in the attacking third for nearly all of it.

“It’s what I’ve enjoyed about this team all season,” Moynahan said. “You see the one-touch passing, the combination play, the possession of the soccer ball, but the other side of that is the intensity that they play with. They had that will to win. Every other time this year, that’s gotten us over the finish line. It didn’t today, but that doesn’t diminish what they tried to do.”

The Raiders defense had yet to be truly tested in a pressure situation in 2023. Almost every game — both regular season and postseason — Hampshire dominated possession of the ball and pace of play.

While that was the case once again, the defense still faced its toughest task even with limited chances on its end of the field. Lynnfield’s top goal scorer Dillon Reilly netted two goals in the first half, the latter while potentially offside before gaining possession.

There was no whistle, and Reilly took advantage. Moynahan shrugged off the idea of putting the blame on a missed call.

“If you look at the way we played, we don’t often give up two goals,” Moynahan said. “That has nothing to do with the refs, that’s on us.”

The class of seven Hampshire seniors are undoubtedly going to go down as one of the best to do it in program history. Led by captains Aidan Miklasiewicz and Aidan Moynahan, the Raiders have won 16 or more games in three consecutive seasons — making a deep postseason run in each campaign.

“Over the next few days, I’m gonna have time to reflect on them,” Moynahan said. “If you look at the amount of goals you’ve had over the last three seasons, the number of wins, the runs they’ve had in tournament, winning Western Mass., undefeated up to this point, the numbers speak for themselves.”

In terms of the season as a whole, although it didn’t finish how they wanted, each player contributed to further showing that Hampshire is one of the premier programs in not just western Mass., but the state.

“We always talk about legacy and the responsibility of wearing that Hampshire Regional soccer uniform, and they’ve continued and extended that legacy,” Moynahan said.