Derryfield makes early goal stand to beat Hanover in D2 field hockey championship (video)

BEDFORD - The Derryfield School field hockey team had a game plan for trying to get a goal against Hanover in Sunday's Division II championship game.

The teams had played to a scoreless tie in the regular season, and the Cougars added a few wrinkles to try to beat the Marauders' defense.

Some times, game plans don't work, and some times, the ball bounces your way. That was the case for Derryfield.

Lindsey Stagg scored the game's only goal less than 10 minutes into the game and helped thwart a Hanover penalty corner at the end of the  game to lead No. 2 Derryfield to a 1-0 win over No. 4 Hanover at Bedford High School.

Stagg scored with 20:09 left in the first half, knocking down a clearing attempt by the Marauders and turning it into a goal. On the corner, which came with no time left on the clock, Stagg was hit high with a shot, and cleared the ball out of the circle.

"It went out to the far girl, which meant I didn’t fly to it, and then I watched the girl wind up and I thought ‘here we go,’ and I got set for the play," Stagg said of the final corner. "It came up at me. Sometimes, we’ve had games where that’s another corner. I was getting ready. In my mind, I thought we’d have to save it again, and then the game was over."

Hanover argued that because the ball hit Stagg, there should have been another corner, but officials ruled that with the ball hitting her above the waist, the game was over.

"We always know Hanover is a great team, and this is their second year in the final, so probably it’s going to be that one goal decides the game," Derryfield coach Lenny McCaigue said. "We got it in the first half. I think it was a pretty even first half, but in the second half, we really stepped it up and took the game to them.

"We started to win some opportunities. We had good opportunities to get a second goal. Then it got chaotic at the end, as it does. Our goalkeeper (Olivia Bollengier) came up with two huge saves and our defense held strong."

After not having any corners in the first half, the Cougars (15-1-1) had six in the second half, getting three shots on goal, but couldn't capitalize on any of them. But they were able to keep the ball in Hanover's end for most of the second half.

"Every single play we made had to be a hundred percent no chance of them intercepting it," Stagg said. "We knew we’d have to play hard and give it everything we had because we knew the competition was, too."

Hanover (13-3-1) was able to shift the field in the final five minutes, getting a pair of corners with four minutes remaining, and putting a shot on goal on the second one, but Bollengier came up with the save.

And on the final corner, the Cougars came up with a crucial stop again.

"We play a zone on the corner," McCaigue said. "It’s a 3-1 corner defense where Lindsey is the flier, and then we have two trailers on either side, so if the ball is moved left or right, they become the flier.

"If they do a short one to the side, that person goes to the ball, and Lindsey dropped in behind and she ended up with the ball and was able to clear it. You can’t deny every corner. You have to position yourself in areas that they’re likely to take the shots from."