HADLEY — The Hopkins Academy boys soccer team toasted its glasses of chocolate milk to its 13th straight win of the season in a 3-0 shutout against Athol.
A post-game ritual, CJ Holt has been giving his players chocolate milk after every game since he started coaching the Golden Hawks three years ago.
Since losing its first game of the season 3-1, Hopkins has only allowed five goals and shut out its last four opponents.
“Any time teams want to play direct over our back line, our center and outside backs do a good job communicating with our keeper where the space is and then closing it down,” Holt said.
Hopkins goalkeeper Adam Yahman made three saves and had his eighth straight shutout.
The Golden Hawks (13-1) have relied on multiple scoring options during their winning streak.
“In baseball, they say hitting is contagious, in soccer I think scoring is contagious,” Holt said.
Dougie Pierce created a majority of Hopkins’ scoring opportunities and used his dribbling to draw two penalties, which resulted in the first and third goals of the game. Ben Andersen scored on the first penalty, while Pierce scored on the second. Pierce also scored the second goal of the game from an assist by John Earle.
“I think those were vital plays, if it weren’t for those two (penalty) goals we wouldn’t have had many other scoring chances,” Pierce said.
Pierce’s two goals put him at seven on the season.
By opening up the field and passing the ball from sideline to sideline, the Golden Hawks kept the ball in the offensive zone. Athol struggled to break the ball out of their own zone and lacked the passing ability to break though the Hopkins defense.
“Our biggest advantage is the comradery the boys share,” Holt said. “Some teams have events a couple of times a year; it seems like they have team events like three times a week. It’s a really tight group.”
With 13 wins and a tournament spot secure, the Golden Hawks are focusing on one game at a time and keeping their swagger.
“We’re going to maintain our usual type of focus,” Holt said. “We have to look no further than our next opponent, but at the same time there is more out there for us and for our season.”