‘Poetic justice’ for ConVal boys, claiming D-II soccer championship in shootout over Campbell

The athletes on the ConVal High boys soccer team etched their names into history on Friday night and exorcised last year’s demons by defeating Campbell in a penalty kick shootout following a 2-2 draw to win the NHIAA Division II championship in a thrilling, rain-soaked rematch of last year’s heartbreaking loss. 

“For it to come down to this, it was like poetic justice to to actually get it this way,” ConVal head coach Ben Brewster said after the championship game, the second title game played between ConVal and Campbell in as many years.

Last fall, it was ConVal’s players sinking to the Exeter High turf in disbelief as Campbell celebrated a shootout win. But on Friday night, Brewster’s charges returned the favor. 

“Right when the dying seconds were ticking in the second overtime, I was like, ‘Oh no, not again,'” said ConVal goalkeeper Anthony Gutwein. “That’s the thoughts that were going through my head. But I walked over here and I talked to the guys, they got me hyped and I said, ‘This isn’t happening again. We’re not losing it again.’ “

Gutwein saved the first penalty kick he faced and added another PK save for good measure, while ConVal made good on all its attempts. Once the final ball left Ryan Pimental’s cleat and found its new home in the back of the Campbell net, the celebration lifted off and the Cougars roared their way to the bleachers to dance between the raindrops with their faithful fans. 

ConVal had ample opportunity to put the game away in regulation. It started strong, as senior captain Paxton Lothrop scored on a flying header just two minutes into the contest.

“We go into every game with as much energy as possible,” Lothrop said. “So when I saw that fly towards me, we’ve been practicing headers all year, so I just knew I had to put it in the net.

“Start off a game like that, it gives us all the momentum. I think every game we came out with that this season, so we were expecting to go at the beginning.”

Campbell answered back about 10 minutes later, striking a hard shot off Gutwein and pounding in the long rebound. From there, it was a defensive battle for the rest of the first half and much of the second. 

 “Our defense is a unit,” said ConVal senior captain Grayson Yergeau. “You know these ConVal boys; we’ve got zero quit in us. So you know any chance we get to make a hard tackle or hype our boys up or just change the flow of the game in our favor? We got zero quit on us and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Legacy freshman Kingsley Cummings gave ConVal the lead in the second half, scoring on a rebound following a Logan Montano free kick. The Cougars were up 2-1 in the final minutes, so close to putting the game away that the NHIAA officials were already preparing the championship plaque and medals. But with 40 seconds left on the clock, Campbell was able to score on a near-offsides play to force overtime.

Such a miscue could have been enough to deflate ConVal’s spirits and send them limping home, but the Cougars had been there before. In last year’s semifinals, Montano turned the ball over in his own end late in the game to allow Oyster River to tie it up, but the Cougars scored almost immediately in the first overtime period.

ConVal looked to that script once again Friday night. 

“Based on what happened last year, when I made a big mistake, we came out hot,” Montano said. “We came out hot just like that.”

Brewster settled his boys down and reminded them why they play this beautiful game in the first place. 

“Everybody was upset, obviously,” Brewster said. “And I said, ‘Well, you have 30 more minutes to play.’ We were playing well. I basically just said … ‘It’s a beautiful night. Go out and have fun. Enjoy the game. Play soccer. Take it to them.’ And we did.”

It was a beautiful night indeed for the Cougars, from their 14 seniors to their budding underclassmen, their new head coach and their longtime assistant, John Szep, who got a special shoutout from the boys postgame.

“Our guy’s been coaching the Cougs for 39 years,” Yergeau said. “This guy has had chances to go anywhere he wants, but he stays loyal to the Cougs, and he’s here at 39 straight years. You can’t replace a type of guy like that. Wants to see the best in every single player he’s ever had. And we’re lucky enough to be 25, 26 of the guys that got to play under coach Szep.”