It was a bit more difficult than expected, but the Mt. Hope High School boys' lacrosse team extended its unbeaten run into the 2025 Division III playoffs as the Huskies defeated Coventry, 9-5, in the semifinals at home Tuesday afternoon, June 3.

(Updated, June 5, 10:30 a.m.) Top-seeded Mt. Hope improved to 14-0 in league games and advanced to D-III title game Saturday, June 7, in Providence at Brown University. Game time is tentatively set for 4:30 p.m.

(Note the start time change, which was originally expected to be 5 p.m.)

Whom the Huskies will face is to be determined. Second-seeded Lincoln High hosts third-seeded Narragansett Thursday night, June 5.

For fourth-seeded Coventry, its season came to a close with both an 8-8 record overall and in league games.

Three of those losses were to the Huskies, who defeated the Knotty Oakers by the scores of 12-5 and 15-5 in a pair of meetings during the regular season.

"I think (Coventry) were a little more aggressive than they were the first two times we played them, but they knew why. They knew if they were to get past us they had to play aggressive. And if they didn't play that way, (the score) probably would have been worse than it was," said Mt. Hope head coach Jay Spina, whose team improved to 15-3 overall.

Last Tuesday afternoon, Ben Browne led the locals with four goals. Charlie Knapman added a pair while Emerson Torrey, Nathan Carpenter and Will Stimson chipped in one each.

Carpenter, Brown, Knapman, Noah Sweeney, Jack Godbout and Brayden Vales each each had one assist.

Aidan Pereira won 12 of 18 face-offs and goalie Ethan Labollita was credited with 12 saves. He faced 17 shots on frame. His counterpart, Coventry Evan Rogers, faced 23 shots on net, stopping 14. The Huskies sent 32 shots total towards the cage.

The keepers were a big part of the story Tuesday, each making a handful of saves at important times to either keep their team in it (Rogers) or prevent the opposition from making things more interesting (Labollita).

"It was a great team win," Labollita said of the victory. "A little sloppier than we liked, but we got the job done. That's all that matters."

The beginning of the game, scheduled for 5 p.m., was delayed for some 45 minutes as the Oakers got stuck in the rush-hour traffic on the condensed east-bound side of the Washington Bridge.

Whether it was the extended wait or not, Spina wasn't satisfied with his team's focus to begin the contest, even though the Huskies got off to a rather quick start.

Mt. Hope had multiple opportunities early to blow things open with three superb scoring looks in the first few minutes of the game. Browne, however, missed the net entirely from close range. The Huskies were also called for a crease violation negating a goal. And Rogers made the first of his 14 saves on the third quality chance.

Labollita was next up to the task himself, stoning an Oaker on a clear break-away attempt as he held his right post to make the save.

"Coventry came ready to play. And we weren't actually ready to play right away," Spina said. "But then they made the decision to put it together as a team. They played as a team, and they listened to what we were telling him. We wanted a controlled game today, and we got a controlled game."

"We tried to control our offense today instead of allowing our guys to just rip and shoot," Spina added. "We made sure we passed the ball around and that there were opportunities before we took shots. We made a couple that were a little sketchy at times, but for the most part it was controlled."

The locals soon gained that control. About 30 seconds after Labollita's stop, Mt. Hope began the scoring as Brown converted a Carpenter feed to put the Huskies in front with 3 minutes, 59 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Coventry tied the score with 1:34 left, a two-hopper through traffic that Labollita couldn't catch, but the locals were right at less than a minute after as Knapman fed Brown for his second tally with 42 seconds to go.

The Huskies extended their lead to 4-1 by intermission. Browne completed the natural hat-trick, this time Godbout assisting, with 5:35 remaining in the second period. And about a minute later, Knapman potted his first, a quick one-timer off an assist from Sweeney.

The Oakers made things a bit interesting out of the break, scoring twice to trim their deficit to a single goal. Mt. Hope, however, had a response, matching those two tallies with goals from Stimson, from Vales, and Carpenter, from Browne.

The Huskies also benefitted from a couple of fine defensive plays by long-stick middie Rocco Palazio, a Coventry goal being disallowed for a crease violation and another Oaker shot careening off the crossbar.

Torrey's goal early in the fourth gave the locals a bit of breathing room. The sides actually traded goals from there. Coventry scoring first only to be countered by Mt. Hope tallies, the fourth for Browne midway through the final quarter and capped by Knapman's second, a rebound put-back, with 3:14 to go.

The Huskies next turn their attend to either Lincoln or Narragansett, both of which the locals swept in two outings earlier in the spring. Mt. Hope beat the Lions 7-5 and 10-4 and the Mariners 13-8 and 6-0.

"We've scouted each other. We pretty much know what they have. I know there's some things they could change up on us. Whether they do it or not, it's something we'll work on during practice," Spina said of the finals. "I think if we just stick to the gameplan that we've been working on all year long, we'll be fine. We're not going to change for anything at this point. We're going to stick to what we're doing."