Manchester
Not even after seeing his top-ranked Raiders drop a 4-2 shootout to No. 6 Goffstown to decide a scoreless NHIAA Division II championship draw at Southern New Hampshire University’s Larkin Field in the gloaming of a Saturday night.
Having had a pair of golden scoring chances go wanting for lack of a finish in overtime, Lebanon couldn’t salvage a first state boys soccer crown in 25 years at the spot. The Grizzlies (14-4-2) hit all four of their kicks, while Lebanon shooters launched wide of the net twice from 12 yards out.
“That’s the way we decide the game that we love,” Johnstone said. “Nothing’s perfect, but that’s the way we decide it. I have no problem with that. At every high level of soccer, that’s how you decide it.
“Obviously, it would have been great for either of us to get a goal in the run of play, but we didn’t. It was a great game, and you’ve got to solve it.”
A wild 4-3 win for Lebanon (17-1-1) over the Grizzlies in late September portended an offensive slugfest. A defensive one resulted instead.
With senior Jacob Peress again filling in for injured classmate Carter Adams (back) in the center of the back line, the Raiders kept a clamp on Goffstown target forward Sam Heidenreich. The senior striker gave up duties as kicker on the school’s D-I football team in a quarterfinal playoff on Saturday in order to pursue a soccer crown; between a braced right knee and knocks from Lebanon’s backs — including an outright flattening on a punch clearance from Raider goalie Davis Cole (five saves) midway through the second half — Heidenreich rarely threatened.
Unfortunately for Lebanon, the Grizzlies learned something about defense in between the loss six weeks ago and the final. Goffstown wasn’t fooled by the Raiders’ combination play nor their cutting through balls to the flanks. Freshman Myles Green posted a six-save shutout.
“That has come into it,” Goffstown coach Randy Lovering said. “We’ve always been able to score goals; that hasn’t been our problem all year, but we were always giving up goals. We were winning games, 5-2, that kind of thing.
“I think some of it was tactical. … They played simple, and they worked hard.”
Lebanon had its first good scoring chance in the 11th minute. A Goffstown defender mis-headed Nate Gariepy’s service right to striker Luke Sandmann, whose right-footed volley inside the 6-yard box sailed over the crossbar.
Cole recorded two good stops, a diving effort on an Ethan Skinner drive in the 13th and a grab of a Ryan Hall skip header in the 21st. The half ended with Cole grabbing a last-gasp Skinner bid in traffic.
As they did in Wednesday’s semifinal win over No. 4 Windham in Nashua, the Raiders’ midfield improved its hold on the ball as the match went on and began to dictate terms. Lebanon lacked good fortune, however, particularly in overtime: Green got his fingertips on a Logan Falzarano 35-yarder at the crossbar in the 83rd minute, slid to the penalty area’s edge to snuff Gariepy in the 85th and saw another Falzarano rocket rattle the right post as the first overtime ended. Heidenreich fell over Cole in the second OT in hopes of drawing a PK, to no avail.
It went to the spot anyway. Mike Fortin, Skinner, Nick Mason and Noah Charron confidently converted after Lebanon opened with a miss. Only Falzarano and Gariepy found twine for the Raiders.
“Nobody’s going to get on that bus saying, ‘I could have tried harder,’ ” Johnstone said. “We tried as hard as we could. And sometimes, the other team wins.”
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.