Exeter, n.h.
But it was penalty kicks, in the end, that did them in. Hanover junior Elaine Taylor’s attempt was saved by Bow senior goalkeeper Bridget Ehrenberg in the eighth round of the penalty-kick tiebreaker, sending the Falcons, who moved up to D-II from D-III in 2015, to their first D-II championship game with a 5-4 PK advantage. (The score was 1-1 after regulation and two overtimes)
“I thought we had the game,” Kennedy said, a heavy sigh in his voice, his team nearly inconsolable around him. “It makes it highly emotional. … PK’s are a crappy way to end a game. You can quote me on that.”
The result left the Marauders, the No. 4 seed in the D-II tournament, feeling unfulfilled.
They had lost to Bow twice in the regular season, 1-0 on Sept. 1 and 2-0 on Oct. 10. A semifinal meeting was Hanover’s third crack at a team that Kennedy’s team felt like it had a chance to beat.
Early on, Hanover’s speed and tenacity left the Falcons shellshocked in their own end. The Marauders took advantage by scoring first, with Carly Craft redirecting a crossing pass from her sister, Riley, in the 14th minute. The goal was Hanover’s first against Bow in three meetings this fall, and was Craft’s fifth in three tournament games this postseason.
“We had lost to them twice,” Kennedy said. “Both games, we felt like, ‘We could have won that game.’ We did not come away thinking, ‘Oh boy. They’ve got us.’ We hadn’t gotten our scoring touch when we played them. We have in the last few games. I think we felt confident that we could do it.
“(Bow head coach Jay Vogt) is a great coach; they’re a great team,” he added. “But we were all over them to begin the game.”
Hanover went into halftime holding a 1-0 lead, but its early pressure had started to subside. Momentum changed completely once Craft and Pepper Joseph, two of the Marauders’ leading scorers, went down with cramps and needed to be helped off the field. Kennedy admitted his offense wasn’t the same with two of his starting strikers sidelined.
Bow junior Kayleigh Marshall tied the game with 8 minutes, 2 seconds remaining in the second half on a counterattack.
“They scored, we lost Pepper and Carly,” Kennedy said. “It started to have a disaster feel.”
Vogt said his team’s tenacity gave it a chance to climb back into the game.
“(Hanover) was very good,” he said. “Before the game, we talked about how Hanover was going to come with pressure. They play high pressure, they’re very good at moving the game and we needed to meet their pressure and we didn’t. That put us on our heels and they got that goal.
“We never quit,” Vogt added. “We talked before the game about always believing in ourselves. No matter what happens, keep believing. And they did.”
Bow controlled play in both overtimes, with Hanover relying on counterattacks that failed the materialize through the midfield. Regulation ended with Hanover holding a 14-9 advantage in shots and a 5-1 advantage in corners.
Marauders sophomore goalkeeper Bella Bardales made six saves.
Hanover’s Bryn Kable, Charlotte Johnson, Sophie Miles and Abigail Wilson all scored during the PK session. Carly Craft hit the left post and Casey McGuire’s shot wide right; Attempts from Cate Wagner and Taylor were saved by Ehrenberg, who made 10 saves in regulation and overtime.
“I was very nervous,” the Bow keeper said.
Amanda Marshall, Kayleigh Marshall, Kimberly Gosselin, Sarah Martin and Kristina Pizzi all converted their penalty kicks for Bow.
Hanover will graduate six from this year’s squad, including key contributors Carly Craft, Cate Wagner and Mindy Wu. For Kennedy, the result was a tough one to swallow.
“It’s really frustrating because this was a group that really cared,” he said. “The seniors are a bunch of girls who have played together for a long time and they really wanted this, deeply.”
Notes: The Marauders’ Wu and Emma Tysinger did not appear on the Hanover roster in NHIAA’s official girls soccer program, creating some chaos in the Bill Ball Stadium press box prior to the game. … Hanover finishes its season 16-3-2 overall; its semifinal loss snapped a six-game win streak. … No. 1 Bow (18-1) will return to Bill Ball Stadium at noon on Sunday to take on No. 2 Souhegan (13-1-2) in the D-II championship game. The Sabers held onto a 1-0 win against a relentless attack from No. 6 Portsmouth in the early semifinal game.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.