RallyNorth.net

Pinkerton loses heartbreaker

Sunday, October, 31 By Christopher Smith
Staff writer

BEDFORD, N.H. — Pinkerton coach Denise Rioux described her team’s overtime loss to Winnacunnet in the Division 1 field hockey title game yesterday as a “knife in the heart.”
Pinkerton blew two two-goal leads, including one with 14:25 remaining in the contest.
“We had a great chance today,” Rioux said. “We had two two-goal leads and it was up to us to win it and we didn’t. So it’s tough. Disappointing. ... To lose two years in a row in overtime, too, is just a knife in the heart.”
Winnacunnet senior Sarah Carter was right there in front of the net to smash a rebound past Pinkerton goalie Gina Rosinski in sudden-victory overtime.
And just like that, the Astros lost for the third consecutive year in the state championship game.
No. 1 Winnacunnet won 4-3 over No. 2 Pinkerton here at Bedford High School.
“I had saved it (the first shot),” Rosinski said. “I went down and saved it and actually had it but they must have gotten it and I got back up and we just didn’t have someone there (to defend).”
Rioux added: “We have nobody to blame but ourselves for this one. We had the lead. We had the momentum. We just didn’t make the stops. ... I’m kind of speechless at the moment.”

Pinkerton held a 2-0 lead at halftime and a 3-1 lead with 14:46 remaining. But maybe the biggest blow for Pinkerton came when the Astros allowed a goal just 22 seconds after taking a 3-1 advantage.
“I’m not going to talk about their team,” Rioux said. “We just didn’t play good defense in the second half. We get a 3-1 lead and then they take it right down and score. We can’t do that. We can’t give up three goals in a half. We hadn’t done it all year and we just didn’t play good defense today.
“Just overall defensively, we just didn’t make the stops and we just didn’t come up with the big plays on defense,” Rioux added. “We had a great season until today.”
Pinkerton defender Nicole Pacheco said the Astros defenders tried to do as good of a job as possible marking Winnacunnet offensive players.
“Definitely having our midfield come back a little bit more to help with the support would have made clearing balls a little easier ... to get the momentum up field,” Pacheco said.
Rosinski made 11 saves, facing all 15 Winnacunnet shots on net.
Pinkerton seemed to have all the energy in the first half but Winnacunnet came out like a different team in the second half and overtime, controlling the second part of the game.
“They came out strong in the second half because we were up 2-0,” Rosinski said. “They just came out (to play) and I felt like we weren’t as strong (in the second half) as we were the first half.”
Junior forward Jordyn Hamilton said that Winnacunnet started to click better in the second half.
“Maegan Grew’s speed really caught us off guard at some points,” Hamilton said. “It (was frustrating) letting up the four goals after we were up 2-0. It was really hard for us.”