Hollis Brookline field hockey beats Merrimack Valley for another OT win

HOLLIS - The Hollis Brookline High School field hockey team was finding it tough to get space to maneuver.

Merrimack Valley repeatedly packed in its defense, and for 60 minutes, the Pride successfully thwarted everything the Cavaliers threw at them.

But then came overtime, and with a little extra room, HB took advantage.

Brooke Bouchard put a shot on goal that deflected off a Merrimack Valley stick and found the back of the cage with 6:28 remaining in overtime to give the Cavs a 1-0 win over the Pride in a Division II contest Saturday morning.

"They packed in the circle on defense a lot," HB coach Greg Cochrane said. "They had five or six behind the ball consistently, so there were some crowds in there. I felt that, it was definitely and advantage for us (playing 7-on-7)."

The goal came moments after the Cavs' 16th penalty corner of the game, and second in overtime. The Pride deflected a shot over the cage, giving HB (11-1, No. 10 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) a free hit, and after the restart, Bouchard weaved her way around the defense to create space for the shot.

Taylor Gionet had 15 saves for Merrimack Valley (7-4), most of which came in the second half after the Pride kept the Cavs from generating much inside the circle in the first half.

"Our game plan was to trap the ball and clear the ball immediately," Merrimack Valley coach Jen Colgan said. "We talked about how we really needed to posses on the clears going out and I don’t think we executed that a hundred percent (Saturday). Taylor was incredible in goal. That energy bled into our defense a little bit. We tried to stay in the dangerous spaces and continue to protect the goal."

But that strategy made it tough for Merrimack Valley to sustain anything on its offensive side of the field, and with the game still scoreless going into the fourth quarter, the Pride made a switch.

It paid off immediately, as the Pride got their lone corner of the game to open the fourth, but Merrimack Valley couldn't capitalize. Cavs goalie Maddie Barich made a save and HB took possession and went the other way.

"We did make a decision to move one of our midfielders up into the forward attack in the fourth quarter to try to generate some offense and I think that left some more holes open defensively," Colgan said. "That’s what we were hoping for, we’d get one and capitalize on it."

The possibility of that cross Cochrane's mind, but he had confidence that the defense would make the play it needed to.

"I’ve got a lot of faith in our defense," Cochrane said. "We play a layered defensive style. We trust our guys, we trust our speed and formation. We were pretty good with it. I thought they had the momentum there."

HB focused on trying to create more space for its offense in the second half, but couldn't break through in regulation, despite getting more opportunities.

"That’s what we were trying to talk about at halftime, use our low to high, use our high to low, and create the space to operate instead of going right into their strong defensive formation," Cochrane. "Try to space out the circle a little more and credit to MV, they didn’t take the bait, even though we brought our guys wider to create space."

The Cavs finally found that space in overtime and took advantage of it.