Claremont
The Stevens High field hockey team saw a two-goal second-half lead sliced in half and worked out some white knuckles around the sticks in the closing moments before holding on for a 2-1 win over Bow on Wednesday in an NHIAA Division III first-round tournament game at Monadnock Park.
“It came down to heart,” Stevens coach Parry Deschaine said.
It did, but it also came down to goals by junior Elyse Scott and senior Jennie Morey along with a defense backed by freshman Riley Craig, senior Marion Lovett, junior Emily Mudge and junior goalkeeper Tess Whitney.
Stevens (11-4-0) entered the game as the No. 5 seed, but the 12th-seeded Falcons (7-8-0) did what they usually do: Play tough against tough competition. Both the Cards and the Falcons lost to undefeated Monadnock, 1-0, and to a tough Hopkinton team, 3-2, during the regular season. The Falcons and Cardinals met on Sept. 2 in Bow, with Stevens pulling out a 2-1 win.
The Cards move to the quarterfinal round on Saturday at fourth-seeded Pelham, a 4-0 winner over No. 13 Bishop Brady on Wednesday.
Bow coach Tracy Berube was not terribly happy when a lot of time was spent tending to Scott, who took a direct hit in her right leg with less than 14 minutes to go in the second half.
During a Stevens timeout a few minutes later, Berube spent the entire time talking to the officials.
With 4:57 to go, she took a timeout, changed goalies and put her starting lineup back in for a final push. Her decision was not without merit, as the Falcons earned two corners in the closing moments and her replacement goalie, Courtney Baer, made a terrific kick save on a hard shot from Scott.
“It just wasn’t to be,” said Berube, who felt that her team let too many chances get away. “When you don’t finish, you don’t win. That pretty much sums up our season.”
Stevens had the upper hand in the early going. The Cardinals made Bow goalie Lyndsey Wheeler very nervous with a Morey cross through the goalmouth and an Ashlee Brown-fed opportunity for Morey right at Wheeler, who flashed a pad to clear the threat.
As the half neared its conclusion, a corner play that all teams practice paid off for Stevens. Freshman Scotlyn Daignault rolled a pass to to Scott about 20 yards away, and Scott one-timed it through a maze of legs to hit the back of the cage with a thunk.
“I don’t think she (Wheeler) saw it until it was by her,” Scott said.
Bow made multiple substitutions throughout the first half, and the fresher legs that took the field for the final 30 minutes may have been a factor.
The Falcons pushed to catch up but just couldn’t penetrate the Stevens defense at first.
But with Bow thinking offense, the Falcons’ defense was caught napping. Stevens senior Becca Moody and Morey broke from the pack with no defenders from midfield onward.
Morey fed Moody, took the return pass, nearly stopped 15 yards out and fired past Wheeler for the eventual game-winner.
A two-goal lead with 15:32 to play looked pretty good, but the Falcons marched upfield and less than a minute after Stevens scored, Bow senior Emma Roberge responded with an unmolested shot that whistled by Whitney.
The Bow goal put a spring back into the step of the Falcons, who nearly tied it with 3:30 to go when Clare Mulraney, whose hard corner-fed drive met the flashing right pad of Whitney.