Naturally, the Raiders turned to a veteran … defender?
“The defenders are just absolutely relentless,” Oak Hill coach Betsy Gilbert said. “They will get that ball, they are not afraid to come up the field, bring it up strong.”
Brooke Surette won’t appear in the game’s box score. But the senior’s ability to tap dance and stickhandle through a gaggle of defenders and fire the ball into the offensive circle in the game’s waning minutes set up Kylee Veilleux’s difference-maker, helping to lift Oak Hill to a 2-1 victory over Lisbon.
“That’s what she did in double overtime against Dirigo, too,” Gilbert said. “(Dirigo) took a shot, the ball was back, and Brooke brought it all the way up and went end-to-end. It was amazing.”
“I wanted to redeem myself after being carded,” Surette said. “I saw all these people, but I saw an opening and I knew I had to take it. When I had three girls on me, I knew I just had to create space, get it around them and send it to goal.”
Her initial offering skipped into the circle, where Hayden Spencer redirected it past aggressive Lisbon keeper Mikaylia Harnden. With a wide open cage, Veilleux swept the ball over the line with 2:27 to play.
“I feel it was just a breakdown of everybody thinking that we were going into overtime,” Lisbon coach Joanne Campbell said. “We weren’t sure how much time was left.”
The killer for Lisbon: Oak Hill’s winning marker came just 2:03 after the Greyhounds finished a flurry in front to cap a furious second-half surge to equalize. Hannah Berube had that goal for Lisbon, which, after a lackadaisical first half, outshot Oak Hill 8-3 and out-penalty-cornered the Raiders 7-3 in the second.
“We changed up our midfield and our front line a bit, personnel-wise,” Campbell said. “I think today we did better at playing a more lateral game than we have. I think we were more competitive with them. I think even though Oak Hill had the upper hand in the first half, I was never afraid we couldn’t get the ball back.”
Berube had little time to get the shot off, as Oak Hill Keeper Abby Fuller rushed to meet her in the middle of the circle. Minutes after a pair of spectacular saves briefly spared the Raiders, Fuller fumbled this attempt.
“Halfway between, I started running out and I was thinking, ‘I’m going to do a stack,'” Fuller said, “but then I thought someone was back there (behind me), so I figured I had it. But then I tripped and fell over.”
The teams largely played the first half between the 25-yard lines. Each goalie had one save, and each team took just two penalty corners. The Raiders cashed in on one of their two shots, though, when Erica Hannigan finished a tic-tac pass play from Veilleux at the left post.
“They weren’t playing together, our passing was off, we were just misfiring (early),” Gilbert said. “But when it mattered, they still dug deep. That’s what I love about this team. We’re young. We have girls in all kinds of positions they’ve never been in before, besides our defense. They’re stepping up, they’re working it and they’re pulling through.”
Lisbon dropped to an unusual 1-3 on the campaign, but the Greyhounds have been in each game to date.
“We are working hard and these girls really want it,” Campbell said. “We know we have a lot of spots to fill, and that’s why we made adjustments the second half. We’re always tweaking. There is nothing definite out there. They’re just going to keep working hard.”
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