Londonderry needs penalty kicks to beat Bedford, advance to D1 girls soccer final

EXETER - Eighty minutes wasn’t enough. An extra 20 didn’t do it either. It took penalty kicks to decide a classic Division I girls soccer semifinal between Londonderry and Bedford high schools.

In the end, a timely save by Jasmine Richards, and a clinching goal from Gillian Vilela, sealed the 2-1 (5-4 on penalty kicks) win for the top-seeded Lancers to send them to their third D1 championship game in program history.

Richards’ save, which came in the fourth round of kicks, was a spectacular dive to the right to get the palms of her hands on a shot from Brianna CoCo to deflect it away.

“My instinct was to go right and I went for it,” Richards said. “It was the hardest shot to save, but I did. I’ve been practicing the whole season for them. I saved two or three on the season, and I knew I could do it.”

The game was a staring contest all night as neither team could find a way to shake the other. Londonderry (16-1-1) jumped ahead in the first half when Olivia Stowell fed a beautiful ball through for a dashing Alyssa Anderson, who caught it in stride and finished it with ease in the 25th minute.

No. 4 Bedford equalized just 24 seconds into the second half when the Bulldogs (16-4-1) were awarded a penalty kick that Mackenzie MacEachern converted.

The remainder of the second half was a defensive battle as both teams tried fruitlessly to score. Richards did her part with eight saves for the Lancers while Katelyn Hirnack made five stops of her own for the Bulldogs to preserve the tie.

“It could have gone either way at either point,” Bedford coach Michelle Winning said. “I thought we were knocking on the door for a while. Then they had momentum in the middle of the field. The teams have strengths and weaknesses against each other. Our strengths are their weaknesses, and their weaknesses are our strengths. We knew it was going to be a good game.”

The win sends Londonderry to its third final in school history. The Lancers lost the 2010 final to Exeter and the 2015 final to Pinkerton, both by 1-0 scores. The Lancers will take on Manchester Central on Sunday in Nashua for the state championship. Londonderry beat the Little Green 2-1 back on Sept. 27.

“We’ve always battled with Central,” Londonderry coach Derek Dane said. “The last time we were in the final we beat Central in the semifinal. We’re going to play one more game and put the cards on the table and see what happens.”