Laura Marron, of Hopkinton, N.H., walks back to her seat before the teams take to the field following a two-hour delay due to lightning during the Div. III field hockey semifinal in Exeter, N.H., on Oct. 23, 2018. “I’ve not had this experience before,” Marron said, whose daughter plays for Hopkinton. (Valley News - Geoff Hansen) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Laura Marron, of Hopkinton, N.H., walks back to her seat before the teams take to the field following a two-hour delay due to lightning during the Div. III field hockey semifinal in Exeter, N.H., on Oct. 23, 2018. “I’ve not had this experience before,” Marron said, whose daughter plays for Hopkinton. (Valley News - Geoff Hansen) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Exeter, n.h. — Tuesday’s New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Division III field hockey semifinal between top-ranked Mascoma High and No. 5 Lebanon would have gone off swimmingly, if the rulebook allowed for watercraft.

The game — Mascoma’s second trip to the final four in as many years, Lebanon’s first under second-year head coach Amanda Valliere — was postponed after about seven lightning strikes and a torrent of rain caused a 2½-hour delay with 18:37 remaining in the second half of the first D-III semifinal game of the night, between No. 2 Hopkinton and No. 6 Gilford, with the Hawks holding a 2-1 lead.

Luckily, the Royals and Raiders will trade Tuesday’s neutral site for one much closer to home. The game is now scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. at Hanover High’s Merriman-Branch Field.

“The girls were really pumped up and ready to play today, so we were really holding out to be able to play today,” said Mascoma head coach Jenn Hammond. “My heart goes out to them, because they came here with the mindset of they were ready to go tonight.

“That being said, maybe the frustration from today is going to fuel their fire even more tomorrow.”

Both teams have played regular-season games against the Marauders on Hanover’s turf. Mascoma (14-1-0) fell, 4-0, to Hanover on Sept. 12, its only loss in an otherwise perfect 2018 campaign. Lebanon (11-3-2) lost, 2-1, to the Marauders on Sept. 24, becoming the first team to score on Hanover goaltender Ella Edmonds this season.

Still, Tuesday’s long delay left Valliere a little flustered.

“I understand you make these dates, you schedule the field and everything in August. I get it,” Valliere said. “This tried my patience a little bit.

“I feel so bad for Hopkinton and Gilford. That’s a long time, in the middle of your game. To maintain that mental toughness is really difficult to do. Kudos to them for doing it. I was starting to lose my mental focus; I can only imagine what (was happening with) the girls who had to play in the game.”

The game between Hopkinton (14-2-0) and Gilford (11-6-0) started up again at 8:40 p.m. The Hawks held on to their 2-1 lead to advance to their first D-III final since 2014.

Hopkinton hasn’t won a state field hockey title since 1992.

“The delay was rough,” said Hopkinton head coach Patty Connolly. “It was really rough because we’d think that we’d be able to come back in, and then they’d say, ‘Oh no, there was another lightning strike, so another 30 minutes.’ … It was hard trying to keep the girls focused.

“Those are our two losses – one to Mascoma, the other to Lebanon,” she added, pointing to the upcoming championship game. “It’s going to be a little bit of revenge and a little bit of showing other people what we can do on turf.”

This season has provided a mentality change for the Royals, last year’s Cinderella story — a 10th seed that powered its way to Mascoma’s first D-III championship game since 1998. The Royals eventually fell to undefeated, top-seeded Newfound, 2-0, in the D-III final.

One year later, Hammond said her team feels ready.

“I think, this year, we’re more prepared,” Hammond said. “Last year was such a Cinderella run, it was like, ‘OK, we need to find turf to practice on, we need to do this and that.’ Where this year, mentally, we’re more prepared. … We’ve told them, ‘You have a lot to be proud of. People are going to be gunning to upset you.’ However, they’ve had that same even keel they’ve had all season. I think that’s one thing that’s special about this group of kids.

“I think, with that mindset, they can go all the way.”

Mascoma has not won a state title since 1983.

Lebanon, on the other hand, is getting itself back into D-III’s upper echelon, undergoing a coaching change two years ago that sent the program back to square one. The Raiders won back-to-back titles in 2014-15 and missed the playoffs last season.

“(Having the game close to home) makes it a lot better,” Valliere said. “I think for both of our teams, more people will come. The pregame stuff all stays the same. It’s all about that mental engagement.”

Hopkinton will face the winner of tonight’s game in the D-III championship game on Sunday at Bedford High, beginning at 4 p.m.

During Tuesday’s delay, Hopkinton shared a locker room with Mascoma underneath the bleachers at Bill Ball Stadium. Connolly said the two teams got to know each other a little bit. When the game was officially postponed, the Hawks had left Mascoma with a parting message.

“We got to be good friends,” Connolly said with a smile. “As they left, we said, ‘We’ll see you Sunday.’ ”

Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.