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# Practice made for a perfect ending for Portsmouth in D2 field hockey final
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/practice-made-for-a-perfect-ending-for-portsmouth-in-d2-field-hockey-final/
- Published: 2021-11-05T01:05:03.000Z
- Updated: 2021-11-05T01:05:03.000Z
- Description: The first half of Sunday's Division II field hockey championship felt like a back-and-forth game, even though Portsmouth High School took a one-goal lead over Goffstown into halftime. The teams had a combined for six penalty corners, all in the opening quarter, and scoring chances were close in numb
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, championship, field hockey, Goffstown, NH High School Sports Insider, playoffs, Portsmouth, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

The first half of Sunday's Division II field hockey championship felt like a back-and-forth game, even though Portsmouth High School took a one-goal lead over Goffstown into halftime.

The teams had a combined for six penalty corners, all in the opening quarter, and scoring chances were close in number. The second quarter was mostly played in the midfield, with the Grizzlies getting perhaps the best opportunity in the final moments of the half.

But in the third quarter, the Clippers started to take control on the scoreboard.

Portsmouth got a corner early in the half, and although Goffstown was able to clear it out of the circle, Mia Edwards was able to get it back in and send it to the front of the goal. Grizzlies' goalie Molly Braica made two saves but the second rebound came out to Samantha Ruel, and as she gathered the loose ball, she thought of something.

"We’ve been working a lot in practice with lifting the ball and we focused on how beneficial and valuable lifting the ball into the net can be," Ruel said. "I think at that moment, after all these days of practice, you remember the basic skills you know."

So with Braica covering the lower part of the goal in front of her, Ruel pulled back and put some air under the ball. Braica got a piece of it with her blocker, but the ball's momentum carried it into the goal, giving Portsmouth a 2-0 lead on the way to its 6-0 victory.

"You just pull back into your space, lift the ball, and it went in," the sophomore said. "I was a little shocked. I thought maybe there was a call before I had got it in."

Portsmouth coach Sara Carpenter hadn't seen much scoring from Ruel during the season, but making a big play for the Clippers wasn't a surprise.

"She’s very good at that," the coach said. "She hasn’t been a goal-scorer for us this year, but she generates opportunities. She remembered if I can do this, it might go in. She’s really good with the ball, really patient, and can make adjustments. She’s a hard worker and a great kid and a really solid field hockey player."

Goffstown responded with a pair of corners and two great scoring chances, but Portsmouth's defense held, and at the other end, Ruel kept the momentum swinging the Clippers' way.

With 6:37 to play, she scored her second goal of the quarter off a corner designed to go her way, making it 3-0.

"That was a corner we added later in the season and it happened to work and we’ve started using it," Ruel said. "We adjusted to each team based on how they’ve responded and reacted to when we played these corners."

Carpenter knew there were going to be adjustments the Clippers had to make, not just going into the game, but throughout the contest. The teams hadn't played since a 2-1 Portsmouth win on Sept 14, and as the ninth seed, Goffstown had pulled off three upsets to get to the final.

"We knew they were a good team, a scrappy team, with a lot of momentum that can be scary," she said. "They did what they needed to do to get here and they’re super well-coached. They’ve got some great players. We watched film and talked about adjustments and defensively, what we needed to do. The girls took those lessons and put them into play."

Ruel felt that her third-quarter goals helped pick the team up and got everyone going in the second half.

"Once you get everybody going, you can get the energy up throughout the whole team," she said. "One person starts it and builds it and they give it to everybody else, and you’re able to just keep the whole team going. That really helped us."