Windham field hockey blanks Bishop Guertin in D1 semifinals (video)

EXETER - The Windham High School field hockey team talked about continuing to work together during halftime of Tuesday's Division I semifinal against Bishop Guertin.

That commitment to teamwork paid off for the Jaguars a little more than 10 minutes into the second half.

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After the Cardinals had sent the ball deep into Windham's end, Amy Lanouette pushed the ball back up to midfield to Maddi O'Hare, who carried it into Bishop Guertin territory on a breakaway. As the last defender came to try to slow her down, O'Hare sent the ball to Cameron Livingstone in front of the goal, and the junior beat goalie Makeena Reekie to give the Jaguars the lead.

O'Hare would add a goal of her own in the final minutes and No. 2 Windham held on for a 2-0 win over No. 6 Bishop Guertin at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter. The win sends the Jaguars to the final for the second straight year, where they will face No. 5 Concord at 4 p.m. Sunday at Bedford.

"We were trying to keep our cool," O'Hare said of the mood at halftime. "We get super intense, (but) in a way, we’re calm. We need to use our passing and use each other, stay calm and work to get the first goal. We’re going to use that intensity to keep building."

After coming up short in last year's championship game, Windham (14-1) was determined to get back for another chance.

"It was really important because we had unfinished business left," Windham coach Katie Blair said. "Our senior leadership is incredible. They know what it takes to get here. I know D2 is different than D1, but they won as freshmen and sophomores before we came up here. They have grit and work ethic that you can’t teach. They go after it every day."

Reekie and Monina Tosi, who played the first half, each had four saves for the Cardinals (11-6), who had won seven in a row and eight of nine coming into the game.

"I thought we played well," Bishop Guertin coach Steve Duprat said. "We came out strong. We missed opportunities that who knows what happens if we put them in. I’m proud of the way the girls played. Where we were with six games left, at 4-5, we were staring possibly at the outside of the tournament. I think our girls persevered and came together and get here."

The Cardinals came close to taking advantage of one of those opportunities to start, getting a penalty corner two minutes into the game. But a shot by Bishop Guertin hit off the outside of the cage and Windham took a timeout just 2:17 into the first half.

"Lock in guys," Blair said of what the message was in the early timeout. "They feel like they have just as much of a chance as we do. We have to want it more. It was just a quick chat, let’s lock in and go."

The Jaguars were able to keep play out of their end for long stretches of the first half, but their best chance to take the lead came with about five minutes to go before halftime. Amy Lanouette put a quick shot on goal but Tosi made a diving save to keep the ball out and then was able to get back into position to stop a shot on the rebound.

"She played great," Duprat said. "She made a couple of moves. We’ve been working on getting shots on her all week. We’re trying to make sure she’s moving, getting that initial save and then recovering to be ready for another one. That’s been a work in progress for her all year. I think she’s finally getting to that point."

Windham had a couple of corners early in the second half, and in order to alleviate some pressure, Bishop Guertin's Sarah Coyle crushed a free hit length of the field. The ball went out deep in Windham's end, but Lanouette's big hit on the side-in got the breakout started for the Jaguars and led to Livingstone's game-winner with 19:36 remaining.

The Cardinals best chance to tie the game came minutes later on a corner, but a deflection went wide of the open net. Windham's defense, led Sabrina Lippold, was able to keep Bishop Guertin from setting anything up on offense for most of the half.

"Brina is one of the most underrated players in Division I field hockey," Blair said. "She is just incredible back there. She has a knack for defending the ball and getting quick pokes and moving it to the side and getting us into offense. She is incredible."

O'Hare put the game away with her goal with 2:13 remaining, sending Windham to a championship game for the fourth year in a row and the seventh time in program history. The Jaguars won three titles in five tries in D2 before moving up to D1 last season.

"It feels great to know we’re going to the championship," O'Hare said. "We’ve definitely been working all season to erase last year. It’s been about working to this point. I think we can bring it home."