Scoring spurt to start second half gives Concord field hockey win over Londonderry in D1 playoffs (video)

LONDONDERRY - Nothing was going to keep Maria Armaganian from playing Friday in the Concord High School field hockey team's Division I quarterfinal.

Not a stomach bug that popped up on the bus ride to Londonderry. Not a couple of collisions on the field, one of which forced her to the junior to the sideline for a while in the second half.

Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, Armaganian was able to do some damage before that.

No. 5 Concord scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half, with Armaganian having a hand in both, and the Crimson Tide were able to hold off No. 4 Londonderry for the rest of the game for a 2-0 win. Concord moves on to the D1 semifinals, where it will face No. 8 Merrimack, which upset top-seeded Pinkerton 2-0, on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Exeter.

"She’s normally involved with a lot of the plays," Concord coach Andrew Briers said of Armaganian. "She played very gutsy. She took a couple of knocks, but she also wasn’t feeling too well before the game, and then played through it. She played tremendously."

Armaganian finished with a goal and an assist, as she set up Ella Doherty's goal with a perfect reverse pass on a penalty corner that Doherty crushed into the net with 25:46 to play that made it 2-0. Andie Reed also had an assist for Concord (11-4) and Felicity Wheldon made three saves.

"You’ve always got to play," Armaganian said. "We were excited. We knew they’d be a tough team. We had to work together and move the ball up the field. Last time we played against them, we weren’t playing well. We practiced all week working the same plays and working the ball up the field. I think it all paid off (Friday)."

It was the second meeting in nine days for the teams, as Londonderry (11-4) won 2-0 in Concord on Oct 16. The Crimson Tide held possession for long stretches of that game but came up short, and on Friday, it was the Lancers who controlled the ball more but couldn't break through.

"I’m really proud of them," Londonderry coach Nichole Treadway said. "I thought we dominated the first half and the second half was more in between the 25s, like it was the last time in Concord. The difference really was we couldn’t finish. We haven’t had a lot of problems with that this season. I felt good after the first half. We were beating them to 50-50 balls. We looked really good."

But after a scoreless first half, Concord went right down the field to open the second and got a corner. Armaganian sent a shot toward the goal that slowed down in the grass, but had just enough on it to get over the line.

"I was supposed to slip it left but instead I messed up and didn’t know what to do," she said. "So I just shot it. It wasn’t supposed to happen. I saw the defender come out and moved it around and sent a shot on net."

Concord got the ball back and had another corner moments later, and this time, Armaganian was able to drop a pass to Doherty, who had enough room to step into her shot and drill it into the goal for a two-goal lead.

"They executed a really good corner," Briers said. "It’s slightly risky, but it paid off well. Credit to them. You can draw it up all you want, but until it’s done in a game, you never know how it’s going to look. It looked pretty good."

Londonderry took a timeout after the second goal to regroup.

"I called that timeout and said to the girls, you have 25 minutes left on the clock," Treadway said. "That’s plenty of time to score. I think they just felt defeated."

The Lancers were able to keep Concord from getting many more chances, but their own opportunities were limited thanks in part to the Crimson Tide's defense, led by Samantha Osssoff.

"She is a rock on defense," Briers said. "Her speed is terrific and she made little to no errors. I think she’s played every single minute this season, so that’s a testament to how important she is in the back and how in shape she is."

Concord will take on Merrimack for a spot in the D1 title game on Nov. 3. The Crimson Tide lost to the Tomahawks, 2-1, during the regular season.