Two spectacular saves in sudden death by junior goalkeeper Raegyn Brothers sent the defending champions second-seeded Stevens High girls soccer team to the NHIAA Division III finals for the third straight year courtesy of a penalty-kick tiebreaker win over No. 3 Pelham following a scoreless draw on Monday night at Bedford High School.
The 6-5 PK verdict advanced the Cardinals (16-1-2) to Saturday afternoon’s title match with No. 4 Raymond (16-2-1), which ousted Campbell, 1-0, in its Monday semifinal at BHS.
Stevens and Pelham were tied 5-5 in the five-round PK shootout after Cardinal goals by Bailey Morin, Maddy Chambers, Kayleigh Ferland, Faith Norton and Zoey Friesen. That set up a sudden-death finale in which Stevens shot first, but “we missed and all they had to do was make it to win it,” Stevens coach Tim St. Pierre said in a phone interview.
But the Cardinals got a second opportunity thanks to Brothers.
“She made an amazing save” on Pelham’s first sudden-death attempt, St. Pierre said. “It was behind her and she pulled it back.”
Stevens then went up 6-5 on a goal by Liza McManus and Brothers, in her first year on the soccer team, came up big a second time to secure the win.
“She followed up with another great save to win it,” St. Pierre said, “snatching victory from the brink of defeat and sending us to another championship game.”
Saturday’s final will be a rematch of last year, in which the Cardinals topped Raymond, 1-0, for Stevens’ first state girls soccer title since 1988. The Cards did not play the Rams in the regular season this year.
Stevens opened strong against Pelham (15-1-3) with a few scoring chances in the first 10 minutes but couldn’t convert.
“I thought we started really well and generated some early chances 10, 12 minutes in,” St. Pierre said. “We were playing really, really well and looked like the team we have been all season but the pressure and a big field, it was hard from then on.”
The game became a defensive battle and although Pelham did not get any strong scoring chances, the Pythons spent plenty of time in Stevens’ end of the pitch.
“It was big stalemate from there,” St. Pierre said, adding that Friesen hit the crossbar about midway through the second half for the Cardinals’ best opportunity.
The shootout came after two scoreless 15-minute overtime periods.
Stevens has now gone to five straight final fours during St. Pierre’s seven years at the helm.
“Winning games is hard. Winning playoff games is really hard,” St. Pierre said, “Winning in the final four? That takes everything you got. These seniors have experienced about everything you can experience in high school soccer.”
He expects a battle on Saturday. The Cardinals are not deep and it has been a long season, St. Pierre noted.
“We are focusing now on recovery so we can put a healthy 11 on the field Saturday against a very good Raymond team,” he added. “It will be a gut check for sure. They are a good team just like we are.”
The game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. at Bedford High School.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
