Second effort send Dover-Sherborn to the Div. 2 state field hockey finals

BRAINTREE — Dover-Sherborn needed a valiant second-half rally to come away with a chance to win a state championship.

Thanks to two goals in the final 30 minutes, Dover-Sherborn edged Lynnfield, 2-1, at Braintree High last night in a Div. 2 state semifinal. The Raiders will face Hopedale on Saturday at WPI for the title.

“Well, the kids are happy and that makes me happy,” said Raiders coach Dara Johnson about moving onto the state finals. “They’ve worked hard for it and it paid off to come back.”

Lynnfield (16-5) scored just 9:12 into the first half as senior Lily Rothwell swept the ball into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead that held until the half.

In the second half, Dover-Sherborn (20-1-2) executed on a couple chances and was able to capitalize both times.

The game-tying goal came with 16:04 remaining in regulation as senior Abigail Gramer scored off a rebound chance to even it up 1-1.

About 10 minutes later, junior Caitlin O’Connell netted the game-winner as she also scored on a second-chance opportunity to make it 2-1 with 6:36 left.

“It sometimes it isn’t easy to come back when you are down,” Johnson said about the team’s ability to be resilient. “They didn’t give up. They kept plugging away and it worked out for us this time.”

The Pioneers had a multitude of chances late as they got two corners in the final five minutes of play. The Raiders held strong and kept Lynnfield from getting any quality looks at the net.

“We knew that they go to (Carolyn Garofoli) a lot for corners,” said Johnson. “So, our fly Sarah Lamson was ready to go out quickly on that and track it. So, that helps a lot. (Lynnfield) is a strong team, so you don’t want them to get a lot of corners.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/32MAmmW