Mascenic finds success on penalty corners to beat Conant, advance in D3 field hockey playoffs (video)

NEW IPSWICH - Playing a rival for the third time in a playoff game, the Mascenic Regional High School field hockey team had a mantra it was following all week.

Cold head, warm heart, and the Vikings put it to the test when they face Conant in Friday's Division III quarterfinals.

After the teams split a pair of one-goal games during the regular season, No. 4 Mascenic scored early, got a couple of insurance goals later on, and held strong defensively to get a 3-0 win over the fifth-seeded Orioles.

The win sends the Vikings to the D3 semifinals, where they will face No. 1 Gilford, which remained undefeated after a 5-1 win over No. 9 Mascoma Valley, at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

Leah St. John scored two goals for Mascenic (12-3) and Lexis Vautour had the other, as the Vikings got all three off penalty corners, scoring one each in the first three quarters.

"Really we just took advantage of our corner opportunities, which has been a big focus of ours all year," Mascenic coach Selena Shaw said. "We have strong corners, so when we get that opportunity, (Friday) we capitalized on it.

"They were the same corners we’ve been running all year. We do have a couple of different sets that we go through. I think we scored two (goals) off a set that we haven’t used as much, and then one off a very normal set. Nothing special, but just making sure we found the goal."

Mascenic finished with nine corners, while Conant had 12, including eight in the second quarter. The Orioles (10-5) best chance at breaking through came on a series of corners late in the first half, but Vikings goalie Emma Cargill (four saves) was able to come up with a pair of saves, lunging across the front of the cage to make the second.

"I feel like we dominated for a good portion of it, we just could not find the back of the net," Conant coach Jackie Brown said. "We couldn’t finish. They just found the back of the net more than we did. They were quicker to the ball at times. That’s a key factor to the game and whoever ends up winning those 50-50 balls usually has the advantage, and they won those more than we did."

Vautour made it 1-0 for Mascenic on her goal with 4:40 remaining in the first quarter, and after Conant had a couple of corners in a row to start the second, the Vikings flipped the field and got their first opportunity of that frame.

Conant goalie Abby Quill came up with a save, but teammate Gracean Kirby was given a green card, setting up a corner for the Vikings.

St. John ended up with the ball near the penalty stroke line and knocked it past Quill into the back of the cage to make it 2-0 with 5:26 remaining in the first half. The senior's second goal came around the same time in the third quarter, as she made it 3-0 with 5:54 to play in the frame.

"Especially from Lorelai (Shippee) hitting it from outside the circle, her hits have been so consistent, especially (Friday)," St. John said of what works well for Mascenic on its corners. "For her to be able to hit that cross ball where we need it and Lexi and I to get touches, it’s really special for our team.

"I feel like, for us, once we get that one goal and we’re up, we’re ready. That’s what pushes us even more as a team. Everyone on the field wants a goal. We scored really early (Friday), which is awesome against Conant, because they’re a great team."

From there, it was just about hanging on and not letting the Orioles get back into the game.

"Cold head, warm heart, is what we’ve been talking about all week, especially since we know each other," St. John said. "We’re 12 miles down the road from each other. We kind of know everything about each other. It was great to be able to play them so many times this year."