> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Winnacunnet field hockey keeps fighting for win over Pinkerton, spot in D1 title game - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/winnacunnet-field-hockey-keeps-fighting-win-pinkerton-spot-d1-title-game/ - Published: 2016-10-26T15:50:36.000Z - Updated: 2016-10-26T15:50:36.000Z - Description: Heidi Hand encourages her Winnacunnet High School field hockey team to keep fighting and never back down. - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Division I, field hockey, Pinkerton, playoffs, semifinals, slider, Winnacunnet, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 EXETER - Heidi Hand encourages her Winnacunnet High School field hockey team to keep fighting and never back down. Keep fighting when the opposing goaltender is playing lights out. Keep fighting when three goals in a four-minute span are waved off. Keep fighting when the opponent grabs momentum and threatens to get back into the game. ![Winnacunnet's Abby Merrill takes a swing at the ball.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jmpawinfh102516-w6-3.jpg) Winnacunnet's Abby Merrill takes a swing at the ball. The No. 1 Warriors made it through all those scenarios in the Division I semifinal Tuesday against No. 5 Pinkerton, and came away with a 2-0 win over the Astros. Winnacunnet will now play for its third title in a row Sunday at 5 p.m. against No. 6 Timberlane at Bedford High School. "Our thing is don't back down," Hand said. "They know they can never let up. I told them to keep fighting and it was their game if they wanted it, and that's exactly what they did." And after Winnacunnet (15-1) had a trio of goals wiped out midway through the second half, Lauren Alkire took advantage of a Pinkerton (10-6) turnover to give the Warriors the lead. Dana Sher added an insurance goal with 2:01 to play, not long after the Astros had thrown everything they had at the Winnacunnet defense. "I knew this was going to be tough," Hand said. "I knew it'd be back and forth because Pinkerton is always with us. They're a tough team." And it was a tough way to see the season end after the Astros had bounced back from a 1-3 start to the season. It's the first time since 2011 that Pinkerton won't play in the championship game. "I don't think we had a two-goal deficit the entire season until right now," Pinkerton coach Katie Van Nostrand said. "Our girls are fighters. We knew it was going to be tight. There's a lot of history behind this and I don't have to get the girls pumped for these kind of games. They played their game and that's all we can hope. While Pinkerton had chances in the first half, Winnacunnet had more of them, getting six corners, including one while the Warriors were down a player due to a green card late in the half. But Astros goalie Khakiyah Ellis and the defense came up with some big stops to keep the game scoreless at the break. ![Pinkerton's Ava Dorci tries to get by WInnacunnet's Brileigh April.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jmpawinfh102516-p10w15-1.jpg) Pinkerton's Ava Dorci tries to get by WInnacunnet's Brileigh April. Winnacunnet got even more opportunities in the second half, keeping the ball in Pinkerton's end while getting five corners in the first 14 minutes of the half. Two of those corners ended with the ball in the back of the goal, but both were waved off on shots that were deemed to be too high. A third goal was also waved off for a high shot that came right before it. But after the third no-goal, the Warriors finally broke through on Alkire's goal. "I just went after it," Alkire said of her goal. "I saw the open shot and I just shot it and it went into the corner. It was incredible." It displayed the fight that Hand has come to expect from the Warriors. "It was good they never backed down, they just kept fighting, especially after getting those called back," she said. "I felt like they got hungrier. They wanted that goal. They could have just let up, but they kept strong and kept working hard." But Pinkerton came right back, getting three straight corners of its own with under 10 minutes to play. On the second one, the ball came out of a pile to Meaghan Michaud, but she was unable to get a stick on it in front of an open net. A foul after that set up the third corner, and a shot by Delaney Conway was just wide of the far corner. Winnacunnet took timeout after that miss and was able to keep the ball at the other end, leading to Sher's goal. "It did look like it was going in," Van Nostrand said of Conway's shot. "Once you get to the second half, it's whoever gets that next point, it's not just one on the board, but it's the momentum, that relief that you broke the ice. We were down there ... they just got it first."