Claremont
Stevens High whistled one shot wide, launched another off the crossbar and had a third attempt bounce off the inside of the post in the opening minutes of Friday’s NHIAA Division III boys soccer match. Those misses cost the Cardinals as a stunned Derryfield team collected itself and went on to a 3-0 win at the Coach Parker Sports Complex in Monadnock Park.
While it was the first game of the season for both squads, it was pivotal in that the Cardinals were coming off a 10-win season with everybody but one starter coming back.
“We’ve been hearing for a long time that this was a possible state championship team,” Stevens coach Jason Stone said. “But we know it takes more than just talk.”
The opponent had something to do with that.
Stone and has staff knew that the Cardinals would have their hands full with Derryfield. The Cougars have a long and successful NHIAA history in soccer, having won the last four state championships in Division IV and 14 state titles since 1986. All that success, especially recently, prompted Derryfield — a school with somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 boys — to petition up a division.
“Even though we lost six seniors from last year’s team, I felt this was a good time to move up,” Derryfield coach Jeff Cousineau said.
And Cousineau still felt that way even after Stevens roared down the field three straight times in an attempt to make life miserable for Cougar keeper Oliver Sattler.
“I told the players before the game that Stevens was going to come out right at us, but I guess they didn’t believe me,” Cousineau said. “Still, I had faith in my guys.”
The contest was less than a minute old when a shot from the side went off the Derryfield crossbar. This was followed by an Ethan Sweet roller that hit the inside of the post, rolled across the goalmouth and was cleared by the Cougar defense. Sweet added a cross to the foot of Drew Grenier, whose shot from in close went wide.
“That was a game-changing situation right off the bat,” Cousineau said. “If one or two of those shots goes in, it’s a whole different ball game.”
“If we took the lead, we could have sent another player back to play defense,” Stone said. “They may be the toughest team we play all year.”
The Cougars got on the board with 13 minutes left in the opening half when striker Andrew Dubreuil picked up a rebound from 15 yards out and zinged it by Stevens keeper Tanner Durkee.
Stevens had another one of those almost moments in the second half when the game was still 1-0.
Grenier received a nifty pass from Parker Moote that set him up in close to Sattler, but his shot was right into the Cougar keeper.
Derryfield got the lead to 2-0 with 17:53 to go on a solid individual effort from Tucker Omiston, who dribbled into a clear space inside the 18 and snapped a shot past Durkee.
Nat Kelsey’s penalty kick set the final score.
Derryfield had a 12-7 edge in shots on goal and 10-4 on corner kicks. Fall Mountain comes to Stevens on Tuesday night.
Notes: Derryfield is a private school in Manchester less than a half-mile from Southern New Hampshire University. On its website, it claims to have students from 50 different communities. The tuition is $30,950 per year.