Timberlane, Londonderry field hockey play to a 3-3 tie (video)

LONDONDERRY - A field hockey game full of back-and-forth play and plenty of momentum swings looked like it was about to end on another breakaway.

Alexa Salafia sent the ball downfield with teammate Delaney Condon chasing after it, and the Timberlane Regional High School senior beat Londonderry's Taylor McKinnon to it as it rolled into the circle.

Condon looked like she had Lancers goalie Kathryn Martin on her heels, and as she flipped her stick around, got ready to hit the ball into the goal. But at the last second, Martin laid out, extending her stick as far as she could to cut off any opening, and before Condon could recover, the ball rolled out of bounds.

So it was for most of the day - the Owls pushed, the Lancers responded, and in the end, the teams played to a 3-3 tie Monday in a Division I contest.

"They played with everything they had," Timberlane coach Bailee Freeman said. "The excitement on the sideline, everyone who played, they had such intensity. They were hungry and they wanted to win. It was so intense and so much fun."

Condon finished with two goals and an assist for Timberlane (0-1-1) and Kaitlyn Cullen also had a goal and an assist while Brandi Garand made 12 saves. The Owls finished with 14 penalty corners, including two in the 7-on-7 overtime, but couldn't score on any of them.

That included one to end the game, when Londonderry's Tara Wright came racing up to knock the ball away from Timberlane's Brandi Sickel as time expired.

"Tara did a fantastic job breaking up that corner, which is exactly what we needed at the end," Londonderry coach Nichole Treadway said. "(Martin's save) was beautiful. One-vs-one, that’s exactly what you want your goalie to do, lay out and protect the net."

After giving up two goals in the first quarter, including one by Condon on a penalty stroke, Martin bounced back to make 10 saves. Meghan Daileanes, Rease St. Gelais and Caroline Leone each had a goal for the Lancers (0-0-1) while Ashleigh Leone had two assists.

But Londonderry came out flat to start the game, as Condon scored on a well-placed stroke and then found Cullen alone on the backside for an easy goal to make it 2-0 after one.

"That was a beautiful stroke," Treadway said. "It was picture perfect. I don’t except (Martin) to save it, I want her to save it, but that’s exactly where you want the ball to go on a stroke.

"We were definitely flat in the first quarter. I thought we looked better in the second quarter."

For Timberlane, which lost to Winnacunnet in its season opener on Aug. 27, the start was exactly what the Owls needed.

"That was huge," Condon said. "I’m really proud of these girls. They really picked it up from that loss. Winnacunnet is a tough team. We all picked each other up. To go out hard and score those two goals was huge."

But momentum swung right at the start of the second quarter, as Londonderry went right down the field and cut the lead in half on the goal by Daileanes just 57 seconds into the frame. St. Gelais scored on a breakaway with just under five minutes to go until halftime and the Lancers had three corners during that stretch, keeping the pressure on Timberlane's defense.

Londonderry picked up where it left off to open the third, but Garand came up with a save and Timberlane was able to break out the other way. Condon finished off a feed from Cullen to give the Owls a 3-2 lead with 11:09 left in the quarter.

"I think we just got a little gassed," Condon said of the second quarter. "We picked each other up, we communicated. I feel like when we talk, we really move together down the field.

"To break that tie and get up on the other team was huge. It builds our momentum more and we keep rolling. Those bouncy balls, we just finished them and it was great. All the girls have grit, they have determination, their intensity in the circle is great."

Timberlane kept pressing for another goal, getting nine corners over 10-minute stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters, but Martin and Londonderry's defense kept the Owls from scoring.

That effort paid off when Ashleigh Leone put a ball into the circle that Caroline Leone was able to knock in to tie the game with 5:57 to play.

The Owls nearly retook the lead late when Condon sent the ball into the circle, but it took a big bounce and went just over the stick of Amy DiVito before going into the goal.

"There’s always going to be missed opportunities," Freeman said. "This game is in the books, we’ll learn from this, and move on to the next. It ended in a tie and our next opponent is on Wednesday. We’ll take what we did well and take what we need to work on, and work on it (Tuesday)."