Lovely's OT goal sends Newport field hockey to D3 quarterfinals

DOVER – The Newport High School field hockey team got off to a fast start to this season, but a five-game winless slide led to the Tigers hitting the road for the first round of the Division III tournament.

While it wasn’t the most ideal position, Newport made the most of its opportunity on Thursday against St. Thomas Aquinas.

After a scoreless regulation, Newport senior Maddox Lovely converted a pass from classmate Taylor Fellows with 4:46 left in overtime to give No. 9 Newport a 1-0 victory over eighth-seeded St. Thomas at Our Lady of Victory Stadium.

“It’s really exciting, kind of surreal, it could have been our last game but it wasn’t,” Lovely said. “Last year we got a bye into the quarterfinals and lost, so it was nice to get back into the groove of winning a tournament match.”

Newport (7-7-1) returns to the quarterfinals on Sunday when it travels to play two-time defending champion and top-seeded Gilford (14-0). The Tigers were upset by Berlin in last year’s quarterfinals as the No. 2 seed.

“We’ve been kind of in a slump but they keep working everyday no matter what and for them to earn this right now feels really good,” first-year Newport coach Haley Cotrupi said. “We’re usually a fourth-quarter team and it’s a lot of extra work, but we show up.”

Newport didn’t have too many great opportunities to score until it started pressing for a goal in the fourth quarter, when St. Thomas goalie Kensley Harris (14 saves) stopped shots by Jazmyn McNamara and Fellows.

Both teams couldn’t convert on penalty corners in the final seconds of regulation to force an overtime in which St. Thomas (6-6-3) had a chance to end it, but Newport goalie Bree Robertson stopped a pair of shots with 6:44 remaining.

“Sometimes it doesn’t go our way despite everything we tried,” St. Thomas coach Lindsay Dobecki said. “It felt like it was back-and-forth most of the game but unfortunately we couldn’t capitalize on them. We certainly had them, that’s for sure.”

After being awarded a penalty corner, Lovely and Fellows exchanged passes atop the circle around St. Thomas defender Chloe Baker. Lovely saw her opening and buried a shot past Harris for the victory.

“Me and Taylor had a little play going on and I passed it to her and I was right there waiting for the pass back and it just worked out,” Lovely said.

Fellows said the potential end to a high school career was all the motivation the Tigers needed in overtime.

“We’re just a fast time so we’re just seeing the openings and it worked out that time and we got a goal,” Fellows said. “We have a lot of seniors and knowing we only had 10 minutes or however overtime lasts. It was just playing hard, not wanting to lose and wanting to play another game.

Cotrupi was extremely proud that Lovely was able to finish off a play that was executed to perfection.

“It was a beauty,” Cotrupi said. “She’s been working on that shot and it finally landed for her. There was no better way for this to end today.”

The next game will be a steep hill to climb against two-time defending champion Gilford, who handed Newport losses of 3-2 and 6-1 during the regular season.

“It’s going to be rough,” Cotrupi said. “But no matter if we win or lose, these girls will not give up until the end.”