They came into the tournament poised and ready to show that they were a team to be reckoned with after going 14-2-2 during the regular season and winning the Patriot League title. Averaging just under four goals a game, the Lady Dragons felt they could stay with the best of them, and that included Walpole and Hopkinton. Having just lost to the Hillers, 1-0, less than 10 days earlier, the confidence was there, but that frightening offense wasn’t.

Once again they couldn’t find the back of the net on Sunday in Hopkinton and were eliminated from the Division 1 South Sectional quarterfinals by the Hillers, 1-0.

Having beaten #10-seeded Milton on Friday night in Duxbury by a 2-0 score, the Lady Dragons felt good about their tournament chances, knowing that the Wildcats had tied Walpole during regular-season play. However, before they could even entertain thoughts of meeting the Bay State League power, they had to get by second seed Hopkinton (16-0-2).

The hosts were ready for another battle right from the start, as they carried the play for the first 20 minutes before momentum began to turn in Duxbury’s favor before the half ended scoreless.

The Lady Dragons continued to put the pressure on in the second half, but couldn’t put together a serious attack that would test the Hopkinton netminder. As their efforts continued to be fruitless, it gave Hopkinton a renewed sense of confidence. With 10 minutes left in the game, Hopkinton’s Mallory Bannon, last year’s DII “Player of The Year,” nailed a screamer past Fitzpatrick that found the far corner of the net for the game-winner.

“I’m very proud of the way my players fought and played so hard,” said Coach Pam Manley. “There was no let down in their play at all.”

On Friday night Duxbury got things going early, as senior Mimi Smith gave the hosts a 1-0 lead at the 21:45 mark of the first half. Having dominated play in the opening minutes of the game, the Lady Dragons earned a corner and capitalized when a series of passes landed on the stick of Lila Haffey, who pushed it over to Smith for what would prove to be the game-winner.

Milton eventually got back on track and made a number of offensive thrusts into the Duxbury end, but the Lady Dragon defense continued to keep the shots from getting through to goalkeeper Sophie Fitzpatrick until she was forced to make a big save with less than five minute left in the half to preserve the 1-0 lead.

Milton’s momentum carried right into the second half, as they opened with a pair of corners in the first minute of play. But Duxbury forced the play back up field and countered with a pair of corners of their own: the second just missing the right post.

It was back the other way three minutes later, and the Lady Dragon defense was forced to weather five consecutive Milton corners over a three-minute span and stopped them all from getting through to Fitzpatrick.

Duxbury would get the breathing room it needed four minutes later, when Grace Nissi made a rush down the wing before finding sophomore Molly Zaverucha out in front of Milton goalie Maggie Atkinson, who couldn’t handle Zaverucha’s shot, putting the Wildcats behind the eight ball at 2-0.

Milton continued to pound away, but few of their shots seemed dangerous until Fitzpatrick kicked away a potential goal in the last minute of play to preserve her 13th shutout of the year.

Duxbury’s elimination marked the end of the high school field hockey careers of seniors Smith, Caitlin Jones, Haffey, Therese Kozmiski, Sami Siciliano, Katie Griffin, Cory Tucker, Cassandra Nissi, Monica Devereaux, Brooke Kent, Chandler Vuilliemier, Kelly Hennessy, Paige Locke, and Julia Hannon.