Big second half lifts Portsmouth past Goffstown in D2 field hockey title game (video)

BEDFORD - Comebacks were prevalent throughout the field hockey playoffs and Sara Carpenter didn't have to go far to show her Portsmouth High School field hockey team what one looked like.

It had only been two days since both the Clippers, and Goffstown, their opponent in Sunday's Division II championship, had both rallied from 1-0 halftime deficits to advance to the final.

So with Portsmouth up by a goal at halftime, Carpenter stressed the need to extend that lead as far as possible.

The second-seeded Clippers did just that, scoring three times in the third quarter to break open a close game, and Portsmouth cruised to a 6-0 win over No. 9 Goffstown at Bedford High School. The title is the first for the Clippers since winning it all in 1982.

"We needed to make adjustments, and I think at halftime, things were finally clicking in," Carpenter said. "A goal or two was not going to make it. We’ve seen a lot of teams that have mounted a comeback. We didn’t want to be one of those teams that someone mounted a comeback on, so we had to figure some stuff out."

Portsmouth (16-1) did that, getting two goals each from Samantha Ruel and Charlotte Marston in the second half, while Alexis Dumont had a goal and an assist and Mia Edwards also scored. Samara Buck made five saves as the Clippers registered their eighth shutout of the year.

Ruel's first goal came 2:06 into the second half, and although Goffstown (11-7) had a couple of opportunities on a pair of penalty corners right after, the 2-0 lead seemed to give the Clippers energy. Her second goal came off a corner 6:17 later to make it 3-0.

"It’s hard when you’re up by one, or down by one," Ruel said. "You want to play aggressive, but you don’t want to lose your composure. I think that’s what helped us, we were able to keep our composure and finish with a really strong game."

The pair of goals might have given Portsmouth a little extra energy to play with because they came from someone who doesn't score a lot.

"She hasn’t been a goal-scorer for us this year, but she generates opportunities," Carpenter said. "She’s really good with the ball, really patient, and can make adjustments. She’s a hard worker and a great kid and a really solid field hockey player."

After getting 19 corners in the semifinals against Lebanon, Goffstown had just seven in the final, two of which came in the first quarter. The Grizzlies battled to keep Portsmouth out of the circle, but as the game wore on, it started to snowball on them.

"It felt like we had chances, it felt like we had opportunities," Goffstown coach Jess Brown said. "The corners were fairly low, so it felt like it was a matter of them finishing and us not. It gets to a point where the air gets out of the balloon."

Molly Braica made three saves and the Grizzlies got a strong showing from seniors Makayla Strickulis, Bethany Dubreuil, Grace Murphy, Jaiden Lacerte and Maggie Jorczak. The title-game appearance was the first for Goffstown since 2005 and the Grizzlies knocked off three higher seeds, including top-seeded Hanover, to reach the title game.

"The seniors laid out expectations for this group at the beginning of the season," Brown said. "They were unrelenting in their commitment to those. It wasn’t just talk. The underclassmen, I’m just so proud of, because they rose to the occasion. They were unwavering to their commitment to what the seniors had dreamed up and they just really came along as the season went on."

The Grizzlies had another pair of corners after Ruel's second goal to try to cut into the lead, but couldn't, and Edwards' goal with 1:28 left in the third quarter made it 4-0.

Martston's pair of goals in the fourth quarter tied Portsmouth for the most goals scored in a championship game; Salem (D1) and Plymouth (D2) each scored six goals in their championship wins in 2002. It also tied Plymouth for the largest margin of victory.

For a senior class that had won just eight games coming into the year, it was quite the finish.

"For the past three years, it’s been rough," Carpenter said. "These guys came together, they practiced hard. They believed in each other. It was a sense of family and working together, that’s when it began to click. This is probably the nicest group of young ladies and they deserved this."