The Conant girls’ soccer team played hard against Derryfield Friday – hard enough to come back from an early deficit and tie the game in the second half. And even though the visiting Cougars were able to strike for a late gamewinner, Oriole coach Devon Spirka liked the spark she saw from her team.
Spirka has been urging her team to be more aggressive and shoot more frequently, and that’s what they did Friday, launching 20 shots at Derryfield keeper Ashley Hardner, who put on a good show in goal.
“I am so impressed with the tenacity the girls showed,” Spirka said. “We played with pressure offensively and made sure we were making the runs we needed to make in order to get that many shots off…I give major props to Derryfield’s goalie.”
Derryfield scored in the first half on a nearly unsaveable shot that sailed above keeper Kelly Williams’ outstretched fingertips; Williams made three saves in the game.
The Orioles had plenty of scoring chances, as Riley Vitello kept up the pressure with a plethora of long runs into the scoring area. Rhianna Aho played well in the midfield and added a scoring threat.
“She was playing smart, and got herself to where she needed to be in order to be an option scoring-wise,” Spirka said.
Jordan Morace broke the ice in the second half, tying the game off her own corner kick, which hit the goalie and went in. But shortly thereafter, Derryfield had a corner of their own, and they cashed in with a header goal that would stand as the gamewinner.
“Nothing you can do about those,” Spirka said. “It’s just a great play and that’s that.”
Izzie Rollins held down the fort defensively, supplemented efficiently by Iris Hill and Helen Quill.
“I know it was a loss for us, but it was refreshing to see that type of determination offensively from my girls,” Spirka said. “I smile about it because I know what they’re capable of when they play that way with that mindset.”
Conant (7-8) is home for the final game of the regular season against Manchester West Tuesday.
Division III playoff seedings set for Conant, Mascenic
Local field hockey enthusiasts, rejoice! The final week of the Division III regular season shook up the standings ever so slightly and set up a quarterfinal rivalry match between No. 4 Mascenic and No. 5 Conant on Friday in New Ipswich.
Mascenic got a taste of the division’s best on Wednesday, losing 2-0 on the road to No. 1 Gilford, DIII’s only unbeaten team at 14-0.
Viking head coach Selena Shaw said Gilford was a “very tough” team, but not unapproachable.
“We got behind at the beginning,” Shaw said, “but definitely battled back and had our opportunities. We have a lot of confidence coming into the end of the season and are excited for playoffs.”
Mascenic finished the regular season Friday by shutting out Kearsarge 4-0 to improve to 11-3. Meanwhile, Conant lost their final game on Friday at Stevens, 2-1.
“Stevens is a good team coached by great coaches,” Conant coach Jackie Brown said. “Bummer to lose our last regular season game, but we also had some really good lessons from it moving into the post season.”
Sophia Spingola scored for Conant, assisted by Rylee Herr.
The loss left Conant at 10-4 and put Mascenic ahead in the standings; both teams have a first-round bye before the quarterfinals, which Mascenic hosts Friday at 3 p.m.
Laconia 3, ConVal 1
The Cougars wrapped up their regular season with a loss at Laconia Friday afternoon.
From the starting whistle, play went back and forth, where both the Cougars and Sachems had opportunities on goal, ConVal head coach Kelly Shirk said; the Cougars missed wide several times, while Laconia cashed in twice in the first quarter.
Seniors Makennah McPherson-Carland, Abbey Shumway, Hayden Kaltsas, Allie Hodgen, Eliza Harris and Laramie Wilson all took shots on goal with no luck; Laconia scored once more in the second quarter.
In the third, ConVal broke through on a pass from Wilson to Shumway, who deflected the ball in for a score. Although the Cougars kept the pressure up for the remainder of the game, Laconia’s early goals helped give them the win. Senior goalie Lydia Cleveland made nine saves on the day. Despite having 6 games this season being decided by just one goal, and playing some great field hockey, the Cougars end their season 1-13.
WLC loses in OT, then wins on Fish goal
Senior midfielder Bri Fish had a good week for the WLC girls’ soccer team, scoring the Warriors’ only goal in both their games, including a gamewinner on Friday.
WLC lost a 1-0 contest at Sunapee Tuesday; Fish scored in the 10th minute on a rocket off the inside of the right post with her left foot, and the Warriors led for 70 minutes before the Lakers tied the game and eventually won in overtime.
“Great hustle by all and leadership by all players,” said head coach Mike Naso.
On Friday, Fish scored the gamewinner in a 1-0 victory over Holy Family in which the Warriors only dressed 10 players.
“Great determination and maturity,” Naso said.
The Warriors were blown out at Concord Christian’s homecoming game Saturday, 9-1.
WLC (2-11) hosts Holy Family Tuesday at 6 p.m. and finishes the season at home against Portsmouth Christian Thursday.
ConVal on 10-game win streak
The Cougar boys are hot as ever right now, winning a pair of games last week to improve to 12-2 and retain the top position in Division II.
On Wednesday, Jake Daniels put away the winner and Caden Peck added the insurance as ConVal beat Milford on the road, 2-0. Bryson Boice and Ethan Kinney had assists.
“Defense held strong once again,” coach Scott Daniels said. Wyatt Beaulieu collected another shutout in net.
ConVal pulled off another hard-fought victory at Coe-Brown Friday, winning 1-0 on a long Ethan Kinney goal.
“The defenders – Austin Klonel, Harry Bernier, Carter Rousseau, Aiden McClusky and Ethan Kinney – played solidly in front of Wyatt Beaulieu for the shutout,” coach Daniels said.
ConVal is at home for senior night Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Mascenic wins pair heading into big game
Hunter Thompson and Ezra Haavisto scored two goals apiece as the Vikings blanked Hinsdale 4-0 on Wednesday. After Friday’s 6-0 shutout against Somersworth, the Vikings are 10-2 and were scheduled to face Holy Family Monday afternoon and then Epping – the only Division IV team to beat Mascenic this season – 0n Tuesday.
Oyster River 3, ConVal 0
ConVal was shut out at Oyster River Thursday, as the home team’s starting outside hitter had kill after kill and the Cougars struggled to dig.
Leading the Cougars was Emma Rodenhiser with four kills, seven digs, 11 good serve receives, and a block; Samantha Henderson added 12 digs and 21 good serve receives, while Kendall Sullivan had four assists and an ace.
ConVal (9-4) was set to host Fall Mountain Monday night and play at John Stark Wednesday.
Mascenic stays unbeaten
The Vikings still maintain the best record in Division III after shutting out Mascoma Valley and Kearsarge last week to stay as the only undefeated team in DIII at 13-0.
Mascenic was set to play at Raymond Monday evening and at Sunapee Wednesday before closing out the regular season Thursday night at home against Trinity.
Conant, Mascenic, WLC at Derryfield
The Mascenic cross-country teams looked great at Derryfield’s Cougar Classic on Friday, as both the boys and girls won their respective team races.
Erin (first, 21:22) and Kaitlin O’Shea (second, 21:47) were the first across the line in the girls’ race as the Vikings took first with a perfect score. Conant’s Kylie Aho was third in 22:12, and then it was four more Vikings, as Skye Lambert (fourth, 22:34), Emma Schaumloffel (fifth, 22:53), Brielle Shippee (sixth, 23:54) and Gracie German (seventh, 24:03) finished in quick succession.
Two more Vikings made the top 10 – Amelia Smith (ninth, 24:24) and Mackenzie Vaillancourt (10th, 25:02).
Conant only brought one other girl runner, Lainey Holombo (12th, 25:37), so the Orioles weren’t up for team consideration, and with Aho’s finish out of the equation, Mascenic had the first six scoring positions to themselves.
WLC’s Emily Hazelton (22nd, 28:23) was her school’s top finisher.
Mascenic took the top two positions in the boys’ race, where Drew Traffie (first, 18:21) and Ryan O’Shea (second, 19:16) were first across the line. Derek Somero (fourth, 19:44), Dylan Callahan (fifth, 20:05), Jacob Crawford (sixth, 20:23) and Logan Lucas (11th, 20:46) also scored for Mascenic in their handy win.
Campbell 30, ConVal 14
Campbell did a good job shutting down ConVal’s passing attack, but the home Cougars were still able to brave the fog and throw for a pair of touchdowns in Friday night’s loss.
Kendrick Edwards caught both ConVal TDs.
The Cougars (1-6) play their final home game of the season Friday at 7 p.m., when they host Stevens.