Sabers top Marauders in OT

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Joe Marchilena photo Souhegan coach Dwayne Andreasen celebrates with the rest of his staff after the Sabers defeated Hanover 2-1 in overtime to win the Division II title.

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Joe Marchilena photo Souhegan's Caroline Stone, left, and Shelby Belak hold up the Division II championship plaque.

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Joe Marchilena photo Souhegan coach Dwayne Andreasen celebrates with the rest of his staff after the Sabers defeated Hanover 2-1 in overtime to win the Division II title.

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MANCHESTER – Souhegan High School girls soccer coach Dwayne Andreasen knows a little bit about the Sabers’ girls soccer dynasty – he was an assistant coach under John Boucher for some of the 10 titles the school won in its early days.

Now Andreasen, whose young Sabers team defeated Hanover for the Division II state title Saturday in a 2-1 overtime thriller, may be ushering in a new dynasty.

Sophomore Peyton Kent’s free kick from just outside the box with 12:20 left in overtime gave the Sabers the victory and the Division II girls soccer championship for the first time since 2003.

The shot was taken from goalkeeper Caroline Watson’s left, and went over her fingertips, glanced off the crossbar, and in. It was the third overtime game of the day at Southern New Hampshire University, but it brought about a wilder response than Bow’s overtime victory over Campbell, and Kent’s arm was injured in the pig-pile after the game.

Kent had also assisted on the game’s first goal, a powerful blast by Madison Learned, also a sophomore, which sailed over Watson’s fingertips and in after 32 minutes of play.

“One to nothing against Hanover is scary,” Andreasen said. His team held 1-0 and 2-1 leads against the Marauders in their regular-season match, only to have the Marauders come back each time and eventually win 3-2.

Hanover did tie the game early in the second half, as Tessa Hill took a beautiful pass from Bryce Wallis and banked a shot in off the far post. It was the only ball past Saber goaltender Mikaela Sullivan, who, like Kent and Learned, will be around another two years. Sullivan was credited with only one save, but it was a huge one – a diving save on another great shot by Hill just moments before Learned’s goal.

Hanover was able to take possession into the Saber end quite frequently, but Souhegan’s back line, led by Shelby Belak and Cara Griffith, were able to turn away the threats.

The victory was marred by the injury to Kent, which occurred as a huge Souhegan throng stormed the field following her shot. SNHU, where the game was played, runs a tight, almost militaristic operation in terms of crowd control, but it was a perfect storm of the sheer number of students gathered along the sidelines combined with the fact that Kent’s shot was taken almost right in front of them.

For her part, the sophomore maintained a sense of humor about it. When asked if she hoped to repeat a few times, she gestured with her arm in a sling and said, “Yes, I don’t want this to be what I remember.”

The win was a second milestone for Andreasen, as it was also his 100th victory, and it may get Boucher, who he described as a “good friend,” off his back.

“He asks me, ‘how come you haven’t won a title?’ and ‘when are you going to win 100 games,” Andreasen said.