North Sutton, n.h.
When the third-year Lebanon girls soccer coach was talking about his team during the preseason, he said he was looking for a strong season from sophomore goalkeeper Sally Rainey and junior midfielder Megan Gradijan.
He must have been looking into a crystal ball. During the Raiders’ 1-0 win over Kearsarge in an NHIAA Division II first-round tournament game on Thursday, Rainey had a huge 11-save day and Gradijan produced the game’s only goal.
Amongst the saves for Rainey was a tip-of-the-fingers denial of a shot by the Cougars’ Jordan Busch with just over five minutes to go. With Busch 15 yards from the Lebanon goal, Rainey held her ground and was just tall enough that her leap tipped the ball over the goal.
“I had to make that save,” she said. “The way my teammates were playing, I couldn’t let them down.”
“She’s a game changer; she’s awesome,” Taber said. “She made her coach look good.”
The game’s only goal came with 32:23 to go in the second half. It was one of those goals that teams practice all the time: Bring the ball down the wing and cross it into the middle toward a target forward. But as Gradijan said afterward, “playing in a tourney game is so much different.”
Senior Zoe Soule did the grunt work on the score, garnering a loose ball and move down the right wing. She slid a pass through a maze of legs and into Gradijan, who one-timed it past Kearsarge’s Peyton Hebert, who also had a solid goaltending effort.
“She put the ball right onto my foot,” said Gradijan of the Soule feed.
The game was played in chilly, blustery weather by two teams that were pretty well-matched. Kearsarge was the No. 8 seed at 9-5-2, while Lebanon was seeded ninth at 7-5-4. The two teams split a pair of games during the regular season, Lebanon winning, 2-0, on Sept. 4 and Kearsarge coming out on top, 3-2, on Sept. 22. The victory sends Lebanon into the quarterfinals on Sunday at top-seeded Bow (14-1-0).
The loss was particularly tough for the Cougars, who at times controlled play with a number of successful through passes that challenged Rainey all game. Kearsarge was constantly in position to score but couldn’t get a shot past the aggressive Lebanon keeper and her defensive friends.
“I had a lot of help today,” Rainey said.
“That’s the kind of game soccer is,” Kearsarge coach Emily Wagaman said. “If you don’t take advantage of your opportunities, it can cost you. And it cost us today.”
Kearsarge will have to do some rebuilding next year, as it graduates 14 seniors.
Soule, who may have been the fastest player on the field, had some promising opportunities early with her down-the-field rushes for the Raiders, especially a dash less than two minutes into the contest. Soule dribbled herself into a clear space for a tough-angle shot that scooted across the goalmouth.
Busch was particularly effective for the Cougars in scrambling for the loose balls, displaying some strong foot skills that got her inside the 18 for shots that were either thwarted by Rainey or just off the mark. Caroline Camp and Emilee Webster also worked a give-and-go for Kearsarge that set up Webster with a point-blank shot on Rainey that the Lebanon netminder scrambled to cover up after making the initial save.