HINGHAM – Hingham has been a constant thorn in Duxbury’s side in recent boys lacrosse seasons, but seniors Colin Hulett and Sam Wien were not intent on letting that continue.
Wien scored the game-tying goal with just eight seconds remaining to send the game to overtime and Hulett netted the winner in the extra fame to send Duxbury home with a 9-8 victory over its Patriot League rival.
“It was definitely the highlight of the season,” Hulett said. “We’ve had a few but, especially since it was Hingham, it feels good.”
Duxbury entered the game as the No. 1 ranked team in Division. Hingham entered at No. 3 but was undefeated on the season and poised to put up quite the challenge to the Dragons. Wein credited his team’s ability to buy in as the difference.
“Every single one of our guys laid their heart out on the field,” Wein said. “When we all buy in, that’s going to work well for us.”
Duxbury struck first in the contest after Hulett stormed to the crease, grabbed a loose ball and buried it past Harbormen goaltender Nate Hoffman. Jimmy Tremante would make it 2-0 a few minutes later off a wicked shot from the corner.
Cam McKenna would then make it 2-1, but three more goals from Hulett put Duxbury way ahead at 5-1. Michael Garrity outlasted a tenacious Dragons’ defense to make it 5-2, and McKenna would net his second minutes later to make it 5-3. However, Wien would net his first toward the end of the half to make it 6-3.
Hingham would cut the lead to 6-5 after goals from Jake Volholak and Garrity, but Wien would net another to make it 7-5. Max Friedman would then score another for Hingham and the team’s entered the fourth quarter with a 7-6 score.
Garrity would score two more in the fourth and Hingham looked set to run out the clock. However, a forced turnover game the Dragons life.
“We like to preach patient offense, but we also like to preach patient defense,” Duxbury coach Chris Sweet said. “Just play good sound defense and let the other team make the mistake. They did and it just bounced our way there.”
After Hingham stopped multiple tying attempts, Wien netted his dramatic game-tying goal. Sweet said his message to Wien was simple.
“’Sam it’s your ball, do what you do,’” Sweet said. “It’s a player’s game, coaches can ruin it sometimes.”
Hulett’s overtime winner sealed the fate and gave the Dragons a win it has been after for a long time.
“I haven’t even beaten Hingham in youth,” Wein said. “This is awesome for us. We came out, fought hard for over 38 minutes and pulled it off.”