CLAREMONT- In a game that was mostly dominated by the Cardinals on Monday, it took an extra period to decide the winner. Stevens’ Fallon Lavertue came up with the game-winning goal in overtime to give the Cardinals their third win of the season, beating Littleton at home 3-2.
After playing on defense the entire game, Lavertue was moved to midfield at the start of overtime, and that move proved to be wise one. Five minutes into overtime, the ball found Lavertue’s stick off a pass from Ashley Brown, and with Littleton’s goalie rushing out to prevent the attack, Lavertue wrapped the ball around the right side of the goalie and found the back of the net.
“It was the right location for her,” said Stevens head coach Patty Deschaine. “She is used to having to bring the ball around like that on defense.”
As soon as the ref signaled the goal was good, Lavertue was mobbed by her teammates on the field and eventually everyone on the bench, too.
The girls seemed like they were happy just to be out there after having over a week away from game action due to poor playing conditions.
After the game, coach Deschaine said, “I am very proud of them… they haven’t played in over a week and they were hungry for a game.”
And hungry they were. Stevens had 28 shots on goal compared to Littleton’s 5. They also had 16 penalty corners to Littleton’s 3. Despite the positives in the stat categories, it was Stevens who had to come from behind on Monday.
Littleton got on the board first with a goal by Elizabeth Fortner just a couple minutes into the game after an aggressive push by the Crusaders following a Stevens’ penalty. After allowing an earl goal, Stevens looked like the aggressor.
However, multiple rushes towards the net failed for the Lady Cardinals for much of the first half due to string play from Littleton’s keeper Emily Tholl, who had 26 saves on the day including stopping a crucial three-on-one by Stevens early on.
Stevens got on the board at the 11:01 mark in the first with a goal from Brown off the pass from Hailey LaClair, a connection between Stevens’ captains. The game was tied 1-1 at the half.
Littleton struck first again in the second half, with a goal at the 13:30 mark. Mckayla Dermako went almost the length of the field and was determined to give her squad the lead, staying with the play after the ball was knocked away, to find the back of the net.
Stevens answered at the 6-minute mark with a nice passing display. LaClair hit the ball into the Crusaders’ zone, which found the stick of Brown, who tipped it to Bri Frisbee, who then scored the game-tying goal.
The way Stevens came out pressing in overtime, it was only a matter of time before a shot found the back of the goal. After numerous shots narrowly missed and multiple penalty corners, Lavertue was able to play the role of hero for the Lady Cardinals.
“We fought right to the end and didn’t give up,” said coach Deschaine. “We had a lot of opportunities in the circle and we just needed to finish it. Luckily, in overtime, we were able to get that finish.”
On the day, Littleton didn’t create as much pressure as Stevens, but ultimately was able to stay close because of how they took advantage of the few opportunities that were presented to them. On the great effort she saw from the visiting Crusaders, Deschaine said, “That’s all it takes is a couple opportunities. I told their coach after the game I was very impressed with them. They’re a great team and the goalie had a great game.”
Stevens improves to 3-2 and returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Hopkinton (5-1) for a game at noon.
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