Staff Report
LITTLETON — Sunapee lost some games this season where they played strong and perhaps deserved better, they flipped the script Monday in the Division IV quarterfinal and battled to an exciting 3-2 double overtime victory in Littleton.
The Lakers came out with a purpose and grabbed a lead scoring in the first five minutes off a beautiful corner kick from Brynn Smith off a header from Liz Tschudin as the Lakers were on cloud nine.
That excitement faded quickly after all state sweeper Vanessa Pollari was lost to an injury for the remainder of the game as the Lakers struggled to find their momentum for the rest of the first half and into the rest of the match. Some of that was due to the lineup changes, some of it was due to the narrow and muddy field, but a lot of it had to do with a young team in a big moment.
“Vanessa is very important to what we do. She is a team leader and quarterback in the back. We hope she is able to play going forward,” said coach Myles Cooney. “It’s tough to tell. Today she wasn’t able to go, and Izzy Correa stepped up pretty well in that role. Izzy is a strong player and fierce competitor. I was proud of her.”
Shortly after the injury, Littleton scored the game tying goal to square things. The young Lakers would respond in the closing minutes of the first half in a bit momentum boost. Littleton lost track of Natalie Austin for just a moment off a Brynn Smith throw in and Austin had a big left foot finish that gave the Lakers the lead back going into halftime.
In the second half the Lakers rallied looking for that cushion goal that would never come when Littleton scored what seemed to be a game changing goal late in the second half. The home team carried play following the goal right into the overtime, with two or three almosts but they only count in horseshoes.
Cooney’s Lakers once again rallied, playing long ball, and had many chances to win in the first overtime and finally finished the job in the second overtime as Sophie Bourque found Liz Tschudin in stride; Tschudin skated to pressure and pushed the ball past the diving keeper for the sudden victory goal, her second of the afternoon.
“There was no secret to what we were trying to do,” said Cooney after the game. “That field dictates that you play long, there is no room to play on the flanks, so we went with it, and finally got the bounce we needed.”
“You know it wasn’t pretty in a lot of spots tonight, but we battled. This team deserved a bounce. They worked hard all season, took some tough messages and difficult losses that we felt would benefit them in the long run and sure enough it did; today has to feel pretty good if you were wearing Laker green,” added Cooney as his Lakers have a date on Thursday against Newmarket in the Division IV semifinals in Manchester at 6:15 p.m. “The defense battled without Vanessa (Annaliese Rowell had 10 saves), the midfield hung in with major line up changes against a more experienced Littleton midfield, and our forward battled double teams and physical play to get the job done.”
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