Lady Lancer Stickers Outlast BG in the D-I Tourney Quarterfinals

Lady Lancer Courtney Shay gets off a pass despite the pestering of a BG defender during the LHS team’s dramatic overtime tourney win over the Lady Cardinals in the Gate City last weekend. Photo by Chris Pantazis

After starting its 2017 campaign with a 4-1 loss to Bishop Guertin in Nashua way back in late August, the Londonderry High field hockey team found its season on the line back in the Gate City last Saturday, Oct. 21, in a Division I quarterfinal-round tournament game with those same tough Lady Cardinals.

And first-year coach Nichole Treadway saw her fifth-seeded Lancers exhibit just how much they’ve matured and developed as a squad in besting the fourth-ranked Guertin group on penalty corners in unexpected summer-like heat at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.

The two teams battled it out hard in the unseasonable weather, making certain to remain hydrated through two standard, 30-minute halves. And when regulation time was complete, the score was knotted up at 2-2.

The opponents then worked their way through a pair of 15-minute, golden-goal overtimes without that score changing despite the fact that both sides had opportunities to bring the matter to a close.

Londonderry finally potted the winning goal when it received the first chance to run a penalty corner, on which Guertin was charged with an infraction while defending its own crease. LHS senior midfielder Maeve McPhail took the subsequent penalty stroke and lofted a shot into the right side of the net to make it a 3-2 contest.

The Lady Cardinals then got their own, high-pressure penalty corner opportunity, but Londonderry junior goalie Morgan Brutus and her defense steadfastly refused to allow BG to score, ending the matter with both teams bathed in sweat and exhausted, but the Lady Lancers in high celebration mode.

Goalie Brutus made a total of 13 saves, with senior defensive standout Caroline Russell contributing one huge stop during Guertin’s final penalty corner attempt by sweeping the ball out of an empty Londonderry crease with Brutus down and out of the play.

The three LHS coaches were also entirely worn out emotionally following the exhausting 90-plus minutes of field hockey, but head coach Treadway was all kinds of pleased with the play of her charges. Questions about that season-opening loss to BG came to the fore in the moments after the tourney game was finally decided, and the coach knew what the differences were with her group without even batting an eyelash.

“We’re a totally different team now, and I guess what I’d say is we ARE a team now,” she stated. “The first time we’d been together for 2 1/2 weeks, and we’ve come together since then.”

The defeat of BG sent the Lady Lancers into a semifinal-round battle with the top-seeded and red-hot Pinkerton Academy Lady Astros at Exeter High School this Wednesday, Oct. 25, after Londonderry Times press time.

The host Lady Cardinals made a quick and definitive statement early in the game by tallying the first goal a mere 3:30 in, but a little less than six minutes later Londonderry bagged the equalizer when senior forward Allie Marsh tapped the ball home while positioned at the left post of the Guertin net. Sophomore front-liner Courtney Shay got the assist.

And 1-1 was where the score remained as the teams adjourned to their locker rooms to cool off before resuming play.

The Lady Lancers bagged their first lead of the match with 16:42 remaining in regulation time when Marsh scored from close quarters once again, this time unassisted. But their opponents knotted the score up again just 1:13 later on a blistering shot from the slot in front of the LHS cage.

And the score would remain right there at 2-2 through the two, 15-minute overtime stanzas despite the best efforts of both teams to bust the deadlock. LHS senior McPhail would become one of her side’s heroes by cashing in on her penalty stroke opportunity following the aforementioned penalty corner attempt.

In stepping into Wednesday’s tourney semifinal in Exeter, the Lady Lancers were lining themselves up with that arch-rival Pinkerton squad which came in exhibiting a stellar 14-1 overall record after its 4-0 blanking of number nine Salem in quarterfinal-round play on Saturday the 21st. The Lady Astros had won six matches in a row and tallied some 12 total shutouts, allowing just three goals all season while scoring a stunning total of 45.