The Hopkinton High School girls soccer team traveled to Wellesley on Saturday and escaped with a victory in a penalty shootout to advance to the Division 1 state quarterfinals.
Following a scoreless regulation and overtime, the Hillers won the shootout by a score of 4-3, with Aila Chase netting the decisive goal.
Hopkinton (15-3-2), the 14th seed, next will play the winner of Monday’s game between sixth-seeded Franklin and 11th-seeded Lincoln-Sudbury. UPDATE: Hopkinton will visit Franklin on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Third-seeded Wellesley ends its season at 12-3-5
In the shootout, Wellesley, which went first, scored on its first three shots. Hopkinton had the answer each time, courtesy of Lilly Clarke, Catherine Chow and Riley Colleran.
On Wellesley’s fourth attempt, HHS goalie Ella Nye guessed right — sliding over a couple of steps before the shot was taken and then catching the low liner.
Following a save on Hopkinton’s fourth attempt, Nye came up big again, again correctly guessing right and then pushing the high shot up and away from the goal.
Chase then went to the spot with a chance to win it, and she delivered a low shot to the right corner that the goalie deflected but could not stop.
That sparked a Hopkinton celebration, with Chase starting to run toward her teammates at midfield, then quickly turning around with the rest of the Hillers in tow to celebrate with Nye.
Finnegan wins sectional XC race
Sean Finnegan became the first HHS runner to win the Division 1C sectional meet on Saturday when he completed the Wrentham 5K course in 15 minutes, 29.9 seconds.
Hopkinton finished third as a team, getting solid performances from Matthew Fitzgibbons (10th), Darian Leo (30th), Harrison Gu (37th), Gavin Scott (38th) and Jack Cooper (43rd).
On the girls side, Hopkinton was seventh, led by Chloe Tumbleton (30th), Wafiya Syeda (36th), Lila Heling (50th), Jillian Toran (66th) and Sana Kandasamy (68th).



















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