Gilford starts fast, hangs on to beat Mascenic in D3 field hockey semis (video)

EXETER - Getting off to a good start was going to be key for the Gilford High School field hockey team in Tuesday night's Division III semifinals.

It couldn't have gone much better for the Golden Eagles.

Alysen Pichette scored the first of her two goals less than six minutes into the game, top-seeded Gilford was able to withstand a string of penalty corners, and Lexi Shute made it a two-goal lead before the end of the first quarter. From there, the Golden Eagles were able to hold the on to the lead against No. 4 Mascenic to cap off a 3-2 win at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

Gilford (15-0) will try to complete a perfect season in the final at 4 p.m. Sunday at Bedford High School, where it will face No. 7 Bishop Brady, which upset No. 3 Newport in the other semifinal. The Giants will be going for their third title in the last four years.

"We’ve had days during the year where we’ve played flat and that’s one big thing we’ve been working on since the end of the season," Dave Rogacki said. "We’ve got to play with excitement, but you also have to play a full game. They’re starting to get that concept of playing a full game and I think that’s helped us in two tournament games so far."

Pichette added a second goal with 4:12 left in the third quarter that made it 3-1, giving Gilford enough breathing room so that when Mascenic (12-4) scored with 4:08 remaining, the Golden Eagles weren't panicked.

"We can’t let it down because they can catch up," Pichette said. "Last year, we lost in the quarterfinals, it was 3-1 and then (Stevens) tied it up 3-3 and we lost. It was nerve-wracking, but it was a bigger motivator to keep going."

Lexis Vautour had both goals for the Vikings, as her first made it a 2-1 game with 1:45 to play before halftime. It came off Mascenic's seventh penalty corner of the first half, with four of those coming back-to-back after Gilford took the early lead, and the Vikings finished with 12 total.

Pichette scored 5:46 into the game, converting a pass from Olivia Keenan on a breakaway to give Gilford a 1-0 lead. The senior also picked up an assist on Shute's goal, as she knocked the ball between the pads of Mascenic goalie Emma Cargill, right to her teammate, who was alone on the goal line to tap it in.

Mascenic came close to getting on the board midway through the second quarter, but a ball sent to the far corner was just out of reach of Ella Pearson for the tip. But the Vikings kept the ball in Gilford's end and were rewarded with a corner moments later.

Vautour got the ball to the left of goal and worked her way around Taryn Werning to get to the middle of the circle before firing a shot into the lower right corner of the goal.

After each team got a corner early, they spent most of the third quarter going back and forth in the midfield, until Pichette had a chance on another breakaway.

"We were passing it down the field," she said. "We’re good at that, and we were just switching and switching, and it was to me. Usually when I’m at the goalie, I hit it right at them, but that time, I was like ‘I need to hit it in the corner,’ so I hit it in the corner and thankfully it went in."

Gilford had a chance for another goal in the final seconds of the third, but Cargill made a diving save to keep it a two-goal game heading to the fourth quarter.

With the Vikings trying to cut into the lead, play was in Gilford's end for long stretches of the quarter. Mascenic had four corners in the frame, but finally got back within one when Vautour was able to get a shot past Lilly Winward with 4:08 left in the game.

But the defense was able to regroup and keep Mascenic from getting another good scoring opportunity. Now, Gilford heads to the final for the first time since winning the D3 title in 2018.

"It’s really rewarding because we’ve tried so hard all these years," Pichette said. "We’ve been such a good team and we finally made it this far and it’s a big accomplishment for us. We need to keep going."