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Hollis Brookline claims state soccer titles

The HB Cavs – the No. 1 seed of division 3 U13 girls’ soccer – competed against Portsmouth, the No. 2 seed for the State Fall Championship on Nov. 6 and earned a 2-0 victory.

Both teams battled hard during a scoreless first half. Things did not change much until there was about seven minutes left of the second half when HB was able to put in two goals. The first goal was scored by Abby Hoffpauir off of a corner kick from Sienna Anderson and the second goal was scored by Paige Mello (unassisted), only two minutes later. Hollis-Brookline held on to claim the state championship.

Coach Kris Komisarek stated, "The girls have been working hard all season. Right from the start I set the bar high and demanded a lot from them; but I told them hard work will always pay off if they worked together and set small goals. I am not too sure how many out there thought we would make it this far, to be honest. But when a team comes together and you preach to them that you believe in them, good things will happen. I cannot be more proud of this team on how far they have come as one. It was on honor to coach this team and I have every intention on coming back next year!"

The H/B Cavs BU14 team played John Stark United SC for the State Championship. Both teams earned a spot in the finals after winning their respective matches the previous day. John Stark SC came into the game with an unbeaten record of nine wins and no losses. They scored 53 goals and allowed only three goals all season, including the playoffs! One of their wins was a 6-1 victory over the Cavs in early October. John Stark was clearly the favorite to go wire to wire and take the BU14 title.

The Cavs had an outstanding regular season as well. They had seven wins, one loss, and one draw. The Cavs scored 37 goals and allowed 15 up to the championship game. The Cavs were keenly aware of their loss to John Stark earlier in the season and were determined to produce a better outcome in the title game.

The first half saw up and down action on the pitch. Neither team could capitalize early in the half. At about the mid point of the half John Stark drew first blood by converting a penalty kick to make it 1-0. Toward the end of the first half H/B tied it when Aiden Dufoe took a terrific pass from Liam Troddyn and booted it home. It was a great effort on Dufoe’s part as he took the cross pass, dribbled through a defender while breaking toward the John Stark goal, and then beat the keeper to knot the score at 1-1.

The second half was ruled by defense. There was action on both ends of the pitch but the keepers and defenders were up to the task. H/B Cavs Keeper Jackson Koopman stonewalled John Stark and had assistance from defenders Bryan Wright and Danny Kennedy. Despite the furious action, no goals were scored in the second half. The game went into overtime as the score was tied 1-1 at the end of 70 minutes of regulation play.

Two five minute overtimes were played at the completion of regulation. Stingy defenses were in full force on both sides as no goals were scored in overtime. The game then went into a penalty shootout to determine the winner.

Each team was awarded up to five penalty kicks to determine the winner. Kennedy converted on his first kick and Koopman stopped John Stark’s first attempt. Wright scored on H/B’s second attempt and Koopman was once again up to the task to block John Stark. John Kotelly scored on H/B’s third kick and John Stark converted their third attempt as well. Danny Sattler kicked next for H/B and scored thus securing the win and the NH Soccer League BU14 Division Two State Tournament Championship for the Caviliers! Congratulations to Coach Jr. and his team on their championship fall season.