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Winnacunnet ends Pinkerton's season

Tuesday, October, 25 By Jeff Hamrick

EXETER — The previous three years, Pinkerton field hockey’s season ended bitterly with losses in the state championship game.

This year, the disappointment arrived one round earlier.

Fourth-seeded Winnacunnet, which knocked the Astros off in overtime last year, once again upended top-seeded Pinkerton 1-0 in last night’s New Hampshire Division 1 semifinal at Exeter High School’s Bill Ball Stadium.

“It’s a disappointment,” first-year Pinkerton coach Jen Resmini said. “It was our main goal to get to the state final. We were unable to do it, but I put it up as a successful season for sure.

“I don’t know if there was a feeling of payback (for last year) instead of just focusing on our goal. They didn’t care who it was (in the semifinals), the No. 1 goal was to get to the finals and get through whoever we had to get through.”

Winnacunnet (11-4-1) scored the game’s only goal midway through the opening half when Melissa MacLeod rammed home a rebound of her own shot that was saved by Pinkerton’s Katie James.

But the Astros (14-2) had several opportunities to tie the score.

“You have two powerhouses playing against each other, and it could’ve gone either way for sure,” said Resmini, whose squad defeated Winnacunnet 1-0 in the season’s opener. “It wasn’t much different in the beginning of the season. It was 1-0 there, and the same here.”

Pinkerton, which had won seven straight and 25 of its past 27, almost knotted the game with only seconds left in the opening half on a breakaway. But Julie Saltamartini’s pass trickled off the stick of teammate Brooke Dorval and went wide of the net.

“We usually cash in on those, and it just didn’t happen,” Resmini said.

Last night also marked the end of midfielder Jordyn Hamilton’s career at Pinkerton. The Boston College-bound senior, who has played on the national Under-17 team the past two years, had four shots on goal.

“It really stinks, especially for the seniors,” said Hamilton, who scored 17 goals this year and finished her career with a school-record 57. “Our team this year was really special, and we thought we had it in ourselves to take it all the way.”

The Astros, who controlled most of the second half, also had a flurry of offensive action soon after intermission with five penalty corners, but shots either were off target or stopped by Winnacunnet’s junior goalie Haley Morgancy.

“I think the players who played last year really pushed the newcomers,” Winnacunnet coach Heidi Hand said. “They let them know what it takes to get there and all the dedication and hard work it takes. This has been their goal since the start. Every day they worked hard.”