Hanover
Mackenzie Labrie scored the semifinal contest’s only goal, leading the top-seeded Royals (15-1) to a 1-0, victory.
The showdown was a make-up game, originally scheduled for Tuesday in Exeter, N.H. Both teams were suited-up and ready to take the field at Bill Ball Stadium, but thunder and lightning intervened.
Mascoma’s goal developed from its only penalty corner of the game with 11:46 remaining in the first half. Nicole Williams fed the ball inside the circle to Amelia Wilson, who assisted on Labrie’s one-time, waist-high shot past goalie Hope Brown, who recorded two saves for the No. 5 Raiders (11-4-2).
Labrie’s finish was in line with her team’s game plan.
“We knew to score, we would either have to cross the ball and try to pull (Brown) really far out of the cage, or we would have to lift it around her,” Royals coach Jenn Hammond said. “So, that’s kind of the approach that we were gonna go with to try to score on (Brown), because she is such a good goalie.”
The Royals, who featured Abby Duhaime (one save) between the pipes, tended more toward defense after taking their first-half lead, according to Labrie.
“I would say we had more of our midfielders come back to play more defense then we had been,” Labrie said. “I don’t think we talked about that. They just kind of did it on their own. So we kind of have a system where we just adjust where we think we need to adjust and then we work on that and if it doesn’t work, than we change it up.”
Mascoma will face No. 2 Hopkinton in Sunday’s final at Bedford High School beginning at 4 p.m. The Royals defeated the Hawks, 2-1, earlier in the season.
Hopkinton defeated Gilford, 2-1, on Tuesday in a weather-delayed semifinal in Exeter.
Wednesday’s weather, by contrast, was clear with a near full-moon hanging over the proceedings. The tension and excitement were palpable as droves of fans cheered on the Route 4 rivalry.
“We love when we have a bunch of fans,” Labrie said. “I know that yesterday if we would have played, we would not have had this many, and we love when they get rowdy and stuff. We think it’s really fun and it hypes us up and keeps us going, especially when its cold and we’re tired.”
The Royals, who lost in last year’s championship to Newfound, were runners-up in 1998 and champions in 1983. Wednesday’s game at Merriman-Branch marked their return to the one place they’ve lost this season; Hanover prevailed, 4-0, on Sept. 12.
“That was a tough loss for them (to the Marauders),” Hammond said. “It always is a tough game when we come up here and play on turf, but I think they took that and learned from it and we’ve just moved forward.”
Hammond already has conducted two practices on Dartmouth’s turf field and is planning another at Proctor Academy in Andover, N.H., in advance of Sunday’s championship.
Lebanon, which had four penalty corners on Wednesday, fell to Mascoma for the second time this season. The 3-1 loss on Sept. 17 began a three-game, midseason losing streak for the Raiders, who recovered nicely following their brief skid.
Raiders coach Amanda Valliere — a graduate of Lebanon — coached at Mascoma for three years before Hammond — a Mascoma graduate — took over the job. Lebanon, which defeated Stevens and Con-Val en route to the D-II semis, won back-to-back D-II championships in 2014 and ’15, but struggled last season, Valliere’s first at the helm.
Valliere indicated that she was pleased with her team’s ability to rebound from a difficult campaign.
“We won four games last year,” she said. “To come back and make it to the final four … I’m proud.”