RallyNorth.net

Londonderry eliminates Owls

Tuesday, October, 28 By Mike McMahon
Staff writer

BEDFORD, N.H. — In the end, Londonderry was able to finish, and Timberlane wasn’t.

Despite the Owls dominating the territorial battle for much of the game, Londonderry’s Kayla Green vaulted the Lancers into the Class L Final on Sunday with a goal 6:55 into second half. The Lancers prevailed, 1-0, last night’s semifinal.

In the first half, the Owls held a 4-0 shot advantage, but couldn’t put any of them past Londonderry netminder Emily Baker. The second half brought more of the same frustration.

“Missed opportunities,” said Timberlane head coach Mim Ryan. “We had so many chances; we just couldn’t get a stick on it. Their goalie played well, too. But, we had our chances.”

The field was so tilted, that Londonderry’s goal, in the second half, came on its first shot of the game.

“We weren’t getting a lot of shots,” said Londonderry head coach Marcia Manseau. “It seemed like we would get the ball in close, but wouldn’t do anything with it. We were watching. We needed to bring it more to the middle; we were going to the side. We needed to get to the middle on offense and when we did that, we had more success. The turf made a difference, too. Neither of us were turf teams, and it makes it faster.”

The Owls also poured it on in the second, but couldn’t convert on five corners. Londonderry’s Jessica Harding broke up three in a row, forcing the ball to the sidelines and causing turnovers that allowed the Lancers to clear the ball downfield. The final breakup came with just 6:40 left in the game.

Some of Timberlane’s best chances came with just 30 seconds left, when a flurry of maroon jerseys flooded the Londonderry net but couldn’t get their sticks on loose balls before the Lancers knocked them to the outside.

“Those are great chances, and we just couldn’t make anything happen,” said Ryan.

The game was quite the contrast from last week, when the Owls downed the Lancers 3-2 in the final game of the regular season.

“That game was back and forth,” said Manseau. “We scored and they scored. They played really well tonight, and gave us a lot of problems.”

Kayla Green’s goal, her 24th of the season, is just three back of the school record of 27 set 27 years ago.

“I’d love to see her get player of the year,” said Manseau. “Who scores 24 goals in a season?”