Eagle Times Staff
GROVETON, NH — The 9th seed Sunapee Lakers made the long trek to Groveton to face the 8th seed Wednesday, Oct. 25. The Lakers fought hard and came away with a solid 3-0 win in the first round of the NHIAA tournament.
“The field played small and space was hard to come by, but the kids played hard and came away with the result they were hoping for,” said Myles Cooney, Sunapee head coach.
Clare Tuohy scored in the opening minutes of the game as she got loose on the flank and buried her shot in the lower near post corner of the net.
“That was a huge goal, a real momentum swing in our favor,” Cooney said.
The game then turned into nothing short of a battle at midfield, with space and time at a premium. As such, the Lakers never found an attacking rhythm, but their hard work paid off as Olive Jennings scored twice in the second half off a broken play and a corner kick (assist to Sophie Bourque) to give Sunapee the convincing 3-0 victory.
“A lot of credit to the middle defense for mixing it up in tough conditions, and to our keeper Annaliese Rowell who kept Groveton at bay with another solid performance,” he said.
The Lakers now head to Profile to play the number one seed in the tournament. Profile fields a lot of strong athletes and soccer players and are known for their gritty play, but Cooney believes his group possesses many of those same traits, so it should be a good game on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 3 p.m. with a trip to the semifinal on the line.
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