Godoi's OT goal lifts Merrimack Valley boys soccer past Souhegan

PENACOOK - The Merrimack Valley High School boys soccer team is growing accustomed to playing more than the regulated 80 minutes.

Pedro Godoi’s scored the game’s lone goal in the Pride’s 1-0 home overtime victory over Souhegan Thursday.

The victory marked Merrimack Valley’s third overtime contest in five games. The Pride (2-3) are now 2-1 in OT.

Godoi’s goal proved to be the difference Thursday but the junior admitted he could not have scored without the effort his classmate Cam Woodman made.

Woodman weaved through two defenders in the penalty box and dished the ball to Godoi, who put the ball past Sabers goalkeeper Matt Greany (five saves) 3:31 into the extra frame.

“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have scored,” Godoi said of Woodman. “He had an amazing play. He dribbled (through) a few players, got a nutmeg off and then just saw me sitting there wide open in the middle and I just touched it in.”

Souhegan (3-2) put pressure on the Pride backline over the first 20 minutes of the second half but could not best goalkeeper Adam Bodien (eight saves). The Sabers logged four of their eight shots on goal and two of their three corner kicks in the second half.

Souhegan senior Jackson Gordon took a shot from 20 yards out two minutes into the second half that went just wide left of the Pride goal. Classmate Sam Pham’s header off a free kick three minutes later went wide ride of goal.

“I thought we were going to nick one in in the second half because we were pressing pretty good and we had multiple opportunities,” Sabers coach David Saxe said.

Saxe felt his team relied too heavily on long services to create offensive chances instead of utilizing short, quick passes to work the ball into the box.

After weathering Souhegan’s second-half flurry, Merrimack Valley created a few chances over the final 10 minutes of regulation to take momentum into overtime.

“I think these guys all have been working hard and realized they didn’t want to come out of this with a loss, especially to a team we felt that we could beat,” Pride coach Ken Fuller said of his players. “They definitely came out a hundred percent in the overtime.

Merrimack Valley controlled the opening 15 minutes of play, keeping the Sabers on their heels. The Pride logged four of their six shots on goal and five of their six corner kicks in the first half. Souhegan registered just two shots on goal and one corner kick over the opening 40 minutes.

“Together as a team and (finishing) a game, this is the best we’ve played and to beat a pretty good team was nice for us today,” Fuller said. “They’ll live this one up for a little bit.”