John Stark field hockey heads back to D2 final after rolling past Souhegan (video)

EXETER - The John Stark Regional High School field hockey team has had a consistent game plan for trying to beat Souhegan.

Score early, and if possible, score often.

The top-seeded Generals did both, getting a goal in the first two minutes Thursday night and tacking on two more before the end of the first quarter, on the way to a 4-1 win over the No. 4 Sabers in the Division II semifinals at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

For the second year in a row, John Stark moves on to the title game, where it will face No. 2 Kennett at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Bedford High School.

Lauryn Guevin had two goals and Addison DeCew and Hailey Brisson also scored for the Generals (15-1), as all four goals came off penalty corners. Addy Pelletier and Edie Fischer combined to make nine saves in goal.

"The big thing against Souhegan, we have to come out with the pedal right down to the floor," John Stark coach Dennis Pelletier said. "I thought we did that. We were on fire on corners (Thursday) and it was a blessing.

"We put a lot of time and effort into that, to disguise them, because our corners were starting to get predictable for other teams. We spent a lot of time, probably the last 10 days, trying to figure out a strategy for the corners."

Ari Goulet had the lone goal for Souhegan (12-3-2), as she scored with 14 seconds left in the first quarter off an assist from Ori Dart. Amelia Warecki finished with six saves for the Sabers.

"This team, I reminded them of this at half, it’s done something a lot of my other teams haven’t done, and that is battle from behind quite a few times," Souhegan coach Kelli Braley said. "They’ve been able to pull out some gritty stuff.

"The tough thing is, when you have a team like Stark, and everybody on the team has been here before and can execute the corners the way they can execute the corners, it was lights out there."

And it happened right from the start, as the Generals went down the field and got a corner to open the game. Warecki made the initial save, but the rebound was loose in front of the goal and DeCew put it home.

"The girl hasn’t scored a varsity goal and she scores the first goal of the game," Dennis Pelletier said. "This girl is super fast, she’s been killing it in practice, we’re going to give her a start. She is very strong and she’s very fast."

Souhegan came right back after the goal and had a chance of its own, but Addy Pelletier was able to make the save. After a lot of play in the midfield, John Stark broke through and got another corner with under five minutes left in the first.

This time, it was Brisson who sent a shot into the back of the cage for a 2-0 lead with 4:21 left in the opening quarter. Guevin scored her first goal off a corner with 1:42 to go in the quarter for a 3-0 lead.

The Sabers got one on the board before the end of the first and opened the second by putting more pressure on John Stark's defense. But Souhegan just couldn't find a way to break through, as Pelletier came up with a couple of saves.

Guevin made it a 4-1 game with her second goal with 8:16 remaining in the third off another corner.

"Between the 25s, I was fairly happy with the way things played," Braley said. "But once it got down in our end, I think our youth showed itself a little bit. The girls never quit and I’ll be excited to be back here next year."