RallyNorth.net

Fri, Oct 30, 2020 05:00 PM @ Dover

Team	1st	2nd	Final
Windham	2	2	4
Dover	2	1	3

O'Hare, Windham rally to repeat

DURHAM — When the chips were down, the Windham field hockey team delivered — again.

The Jaguars, in their toughest game of the season, rallied past Dover, 4-3, on a cold Friday afternoon at Oyster River High School, to cap a perfect 10-0 season and capture their second straight Division 1 state title.

Continuing its legacy as a New Hampshire power, Windham captured its fifth state crown in nine years. It was also state runner-up three times.

“We had to bring this back to Windham,” said junior standout Amy Lanouette. “People expect us to win and we expect it. We have a target on our backs because we’ve won a lot, but that just makes us work harder.”

The Jaguars definitely had to work hard for this one. They trailed 3-2 after Dover dominated the third quarter and they didn’t look like they could turn it around.

“It was scary,” admitted co-captain Maddie O’Hare, who will play at Holy Cross next year. “They’re a tough team and they gave us a tough fight. We had to come together and we did.”

Until that point, the speedy O’Hare had supplied much of Windham’s offense. After Dover opened the scoring in the first quarter, she had a brilliant rush down the entire field before shooting toward the goal. Freshman Sophia Ponzini poked it in to tie the score.

Dover got another goal as time expired in the first quarter, but O’Hare tied it again with a nifty individual effort and goal to make it 2-2 at halftime.

The third quarter was all Dover, which applied unrelenting pressure on goalie Camdyn Clementi, who made several terrific saves. The Green Wave had a whopping eight penalty corners in the quarter and finally took the lead with 1:54 remaining on Audrey Carter’s second goal of the game.

“We were playing frantic and not playing in the right positions,” said Lanouette. “Our goalie really kept us in it.”

Said O’Hare: “We were playing too defensive and not going after it. We had to put more players in the circle.”

That strategic change and a few motivational words from coach Katie Blair before the fourth quarter turned the game around.

“I told them it was do or die, that it was now or never, and they had to want it more than they did,” said Blair, who has a sparkling 83-8-2 record in six years as head coach.

That seemed to do the trick because Windham dominated the fourth quarter and finally tied it with 5:13 off a penalty corner when Sophia Ponzini scored her second goal of the game off an O’Hare assist. Less than two minutes later, sister Cecilia Ponzini scored the game-winner on yet another O’Hare assist, her third of the game.

Moments later, the Jaguars, who gave Dover no chance for a tie down the stretch, were celebrating like there was no tomorrow.

“The girls showed a lot of resilience coming back, I’m really proud of them,” said Blair. “It was a great game.”

And, said O’Hare, “it’s a lot more fun to win an intense game like this, to have to fight to win it.”

O’Hare is one of several seniors, including co-captain Cameron Livingstone and Levi Tsetsilas, who will be missed next year. But there are a flock of talented underclassmen that include the Ponzini sisters, freshman Ava Sanchez, Clementi and returning Eagle-Tribune MVP Lanouette to keep the tradition going.

“Windham isn’t going anywhere and we’ll be back,” said Lanouette. “We have a fantastic middle school program and so many girls play club (field hockey). We’ll keep this going.”

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“We had to bring this back to Windham. People expect us to win and we expect it.”

Windham junior Amy Lanouette

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Windham’s state tourney run

2012 — Division 2 runner-up

2013 — Division 2 state champ

2014 — Division2 runner-up

2016 — Division 2 state champ

2017 — Division 2 state champ

2018 — Division 1 runner-up

2019 — Division 1 state champ

2020 — Division 1 state champ