Turgeon's overtime goal lifts Dover past Timberlane in D1 field hockey playoffs

DOVER - Trailing, Dover High School field hockey coach Sarah Michaud sensed her team recognized the blunt reality of the situation entering the second half of Tuesday afternoon’s prelim game of the Division I tournament against Timberlane.

Jeannine Turgeon calmed down the Green Wave’s nerves by tying the game early in the second half, and the junior followed that by providing an exhilarating ending.

Turgeon lifted a penalty corner pass from Jessica Couture over the head of Timberlane goalie Meg Quarry with 5:28 left in overtime to give seventh-seeded Dover a 2-1 victory over No. 10 Timberlane.

“We came into the second half knowing that if we didn’t play better than we did in the first half, we were going to lose,” Michaud said. “We basically came out and said we can’t control the officials, we can’t control the other team, and we can only control ourselves and play our game.”

Dover (10-5) now travels to No. 2 Windham (13-1) for Friday’s quarterfinals, after the Jaguars received a first-round bye. The teams did not meet during the regular season.

“This feels great; I feel fantastic,” Turgeon said. “I think the team really pulled it out at the end. I think the first half was a little rough, but the second half we stepped it up and came together as a team.”

Timberlane (6-9) immediately swarmed Dover goalie Kylie Nelson-Marois (five saves) in the opening minute of the game, but the Owls wouldn’t cash in until late in the half.

Nelson-Marois made a kick save with three minutes left in regulation, and the Owls kept pressuring. Nelson-Marois stopped a shot by Shawna Ruth, but Natalie Macalusco was there to bank in the rebound to give Timberlane a 1-0 lead with 1:36 left in the first half.

“We did a really nice job of coming out with high energy,” Timberlane coach Melissa Nawn said. “That’s been our game plan, to attack as fast as we can. We have a lot of fast wings. We were just connecting on those cross balls and have a lot of strength from our underclassmen.”

Turgeon delivered her first goal to tie the game at 1-1 with 20:53 left in regulation off a penalty corner. Charlotte Morin collected the pass and dumped it to Turgeon, who flipped a far shot past an out of position Quarry.

“I just wanted to score, I didn’t care how it went in,” Turgeon said. “It wasn’t clean, but it was a goal and it really helped the momentum. That really boosted our confidence. Once we know we can score, we know we can score again. It’s just getting over the hurdle.”

Neither team had any major chances the rest of regulation, which set the stage for overtime.

After creating a penalty corner, Couture immediately found Turgeon, who made a slick stick moved around Skye Priest, and followed with the game winner.

“I was kind of thinking about going left because usually I try to go right, but that wasn’t working the whole game,” Turgeon said. “So I was like, ‘You know what?’ I’ll just try this. It was open and it worked out. I saw it in the corner and then it was dead silence, so I was like ‘Oh yeah, that’s in.'”

“Jeannine is a leader on and off the field and she’s somebody I really rely on and she is a good example. Not only is she a great player, but she’s a great kid and works her butt off day after day,” Michaud said. “We use her on her lot of plays because she gets the job done. She made a great shot.”

This marked the seventh one-goal loss in a hard-luck season for Timberlane. The Owls rebounded from an 0-4 start and will return a good nucleus next season.

“We kind of hung our hat that we’re resilient,” Nawn said. “We started 0-4 and we could’ve rolled over and died, but we didn’t. We worked hard to get a playoff spot and the future looks bright at Timberlane.”

Now Dover faces a Windham, who has won nine straight games and allowed only three goals. The Green Wave are ready to embrace the underdog role.

“It’s kind of nice having that feeling,” Michaud said. “We didn’t play them during the regular season, and it’s nice to have that clean slate. They have a strong team with a great record, and we’ll just give it our best shot.”