LACONIA, N.H. – With the Laker boys all set to face off against Newmarket in the championship on Saturday, the No. 1 seeded girls were hoping to do the same on Sunday, but a 1-0 overtime loss to No. 4 Epping in the D-IV semifinals Thursday night prevented that.
After two scoreless, close-played halves, the drama in overtime had the fans on the edge of their seat, waiting to see who would be matching up with Newmarket in the final.
Sunapee had the first chance in overtime, as Marybeth Broton lined up a direct kick from 22-yards out. Her shot was rocketed right past the head of Epping’s keeper, but got all bottom of the crossbar, and after ricocheting down to the turf, the Lakers couldn’t finish on the open-net rebound.
After Sunapee failed to capitalize on their opportunity, five minutes into overtime Epping got a penalty kick awarded when Emma Roussell was tripped up on a breakaway in the box. Casey Needham was the striker chosen to take the kick for the Blue Devils.
A buzz of suspense going through the stadium immediately went silent when the whistle blew and it was just Needham one-on-one with Sunapee’s keeper Abby Rowell for the chance to go to the state championship.
With her right foot, Needham went lower-right corner as Rowell guessed the other direction, and it was the Blue Devils who walked away victorious.
In regulation, both teams saw many chances for goals that were either wiped away by the keepers or sailed just off goal.
Just five minutes into the game, Sunapee had a corner from the right side end up hitting an Epping defender and come just inches from being an own-goal as the Laker faithful on that side of the field thought it had gone past the goal line.
Later in the first half, Needham struck a shot from deep in the upper portion of the net, which Rowell just barely got a finger-tip on and the ball hit the crossbar, and Rowell was able to jump on the rebound to secure the tie game.
A few minutes into the second half, after a miscue by the back-line of the Lakers’ defense, Epping’s Hannah Jacoby had a breakaway look for a second, but Sylvia Dalton recovered and was able to veer Jacoby off and force a difficult shot which was saved by Rowell.
The Laker had a good chance with eight minutes left in regulation. On a direct kick from deep on the right side, Ellie Frederick hit it cross field instead of toward goal, and she found Abby Pollari who found an open seam in the Devils’ defense as she cut through, but she wasn’t able to get good control of the ball, and it sailed wide left of the goal.
On the night, Epping out-shot the Lakers 15-13 and had more shots on goal, 9-7. Sunapee won the corner battle, 4-2, and had more saves than the Blue Devils, 8-7.
No. 4 Epping moves on to play their neighbor, No. 2 Newmarket in the girls D-IV Championship.
For the Lakers, their highly successful season ends after a 14-2 regular season and earning the number-one seed in Division 4.
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