In an exciting day at the Hopkinton High School turf field Wednesday, the Hillers girls and boys soccer teams posted one-goal wins in postseason play.
Madison Recupero scored with about three minutes remaining to give the HHS girls a 2-1 victory over Arlington in the late game.
Hopkinton (19-0-1), the third seed in Division 1, advances to the quarterfinals to play sixth-seeded Franklin (18-2). Arlington, seeded 14th, caps its campaign at 12-6-1.
Hopkinton found itself in a tight one in the closing minutes when Jo DuPont held the ball on the right edge of the field before delivering a cross to the left side of the goal, where Recupero left-footed it past the goalie.
HHS opened the scoring 14 minutes into the game when Anagha Kulkarni sent Nicole Tedstone on a breakaway with a nice touch pass and Tedstone finished it, pushing the ball between the legs of the helpless goalie and into the center of the net.
Four minutes into the second half, Arlington converted a penalty kick after HHS goalie Aila Chase dove for the ball at the feet of an Arlington attacker and knocked her over.
Earlier in the day, Jack Ianelli scored a pair of goals to lead the boys to a 3-2 victory over visiting North Attleborough and a spot in the Division 2 quarterfinals.
HHS (14-2-4), seeded eighth, next will play the winner of Wednesday night’s game between Reading and Bedford. North Attleborough, the 24th seed, ends its season at 8-9-3.
Ianelli got the Hillers on the board just over a minute into the game. Federico Rossi made a perfect through pass that Ianelli one-timed from 20 yards out past the charging goalie and into the left corner of the goal.
Less than 30 seconds later, Tim Zakharov, standing at the top of the penalty area, controlled a North Attleboro header with his chest and then slammed a right-footed shot into the upper right corner of the net for a 2-0 lead.
North Attleborough broke through about 10 minutes later, converting a loose ball in front after a free kick, and the score remained 2-1 at the break.
Ianelli netted his second after he got possession in the right corner, put a move on his defender, then, from the goal line, fired the ball to the middle. As the goalie moved toward the center of the net, the ball deflected off a defender and snuck inside the near post.
With a little over 17 minutes remaining, North Attleborough scored on a header a few yards in front of the goal after a scramble following a free kick.
HHS goalie Owen Silva made a diving save with about four minutes remaining, and the Hillers held off a North Attleborough comeback attempt.
Go Hillers! I remember some of you from preschool and Elmwood, so it’s great to read of your soccer successes!!