Hopkinton’s Ian Weilding (7) battles a Methuen player for the ball while Josh Kim closes in on the play. PHOTO/JOHN CARDILLO

Daniel Morrissey, Josh Kim and Rocco Spinelli scored for the Hopkinton High School boys soccer team in a 3-1 victory over visiting Methuen on Monday in the preliminary round of the Division 1 state tournament.

The 27th-seeded Hillers (9-5-4) advance to play sixth-seeded Framingham (8-3-7) on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Framingham’s Fuller Middle School.

Just two minutes into the game, Hopkinton applied heavy pressure, and it paid off. Joshua Tomasino-Steuer pounced on a loose ball about 25 yards in front and drilled a low shot that the goalie blocked but could not control. An alert Kim sprinted past the defense, jumped and flicked a shot that the goalie saved, but the rebound rolled in front right to an approaching Daniel Morrissey, who calmly rolled the ball to the left corner, past a sliding defender. The ball deflected off the inside of the post and into the net.

With 5:14 remaining in the half, 38th-seeded Methuen (10-3-6) had a free kick just outside the box. HHS goalie Anthony Gordon stopped a screaming liner on the left side, but the rebound bounced a few feet away, and Methuen’s Owen Reilly raced past the defense to tap it home.

Early in the second half, Ian Weilding got control of a Lorenzo De Felice throw-in at midfield. Weilding kicked the ball ahead and outran the defense to the ball on the left side. He then made a nice touch pass to Kim, who had space between two defenders. Kim’s initial right-foot shot was saved, but the rebound bounced right back to the junior, and he pushed it into the goal 5:32 into the period to put the hosts ahead for good.

With just under 12 minutes remaining, Tim Zakharov stole a clearing attempt near the top of the box. He put on a nifty move to elude a defender and looped a left-footed shot on net. The goalie deflected it off the crossbar and it rolled across the goal line. Spinelli pounced on it and tapped it in with his left foot to cap the scoring.

Cheer advances to regionals

The HHS cheer team competed in the Tri-Valley League meet Sunday and qualified for the regional competition.