Londonderry, Concord advance to D1 boys soccer final

NASHUA – The Londonderry High School boys soccer team had been preparing for the moment for a while.

With the possibility of penalty kicks looming to decide a playoff game, Lancers coach Todd Ellis had his players practicing them, not just to be ready, but to see who he should go with if the situation came up.

It did on Wednesday, and it got the No. 3 Lancers to the championship game.

Londonderry made three of its four attempts, while No. 2 Hanover missed three, and the Lancers grabbed a 3-2 win over the Marauders at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.

The win sends Londonderry to the Division I title game Saturday at 7 p.m. at Southern New Hampshire University, where it will face No. 4 Concord, which knocked off No. 1 Bedford 2-1 in double overtime in the other semifinal.

Jayden West and Tarik Dallahi each had a goal for Londonderry (15-2-2) during regulation, while West, Max Hastings and Nate Gaw scored on the Lancers’ first three penalty kicks.

“We’ve been practicing PKs for over a week now and I think our guys stepped up and felt pretty confident,” Ellis said. “Our guys came through, we had one guy miss, but we came up solid.”

Ellis also elected to switch goalies for the penalty kicks. After senior Tim McEacharn made eight saves through a hundred minutes of soccer – including a diving stop late in double overtime – the Lancers called on junior Cameron Wheeler to face Hanover’s shooters.

“Tim had a heck of a game and he played well,” Ellis said. “Probably the best game he’s had all season. But when we were practicing PKs, Wheeler just seemed to be the guy to go with. We made that tough decision to go with Cam and fortunately it seemed to work.”

Asa Berolzheimer had both Hanover (15-3-1) goals in regulation, including one in the 80th minute that sent the game to overtime. The Marauders senior also scored on the first penalty kick, but Jonah Levine hit the cross bar and Jamie Dinulos sent his shot wide to the left.

Hanover goalkeeper Connor Edson stopped Londonderry’s Nicholas Anderson to keep it 3-1, but Wheeler made the stop on Sam Strohbehn and was mobbed by his teammates in the back of the goal.

“It’s a brutal way, but I wouldn’t change it,” Hanover coach Robert Grabill said. “I wouldn’t want to do any other way to decide a game. Neither team left anything out there.”

Berolzheimer gave the Marauders the lead in the third minute, but West answered for Londonderry just three minutes later, and the game stayed tied 1-1 for the next 72 minutes. Dallahi put the Lancers up 2-1 in the 78th minute, scoring off a rebound, but Hanover wasn’t done, getting a goal from Berolzheimer in the 80th minute.

“I wish we’d done a better job keeping the ball to the outside and keeping them from getting that last opportunity,” Ellis said. “Asa (Berolzheimer) is a quality player and he hit a very nice ball to give them the tie.”

The tying goal came off a free kick just outside the circle and made it inside the far post, just out of reach from McEacharn.

“It was a spectacular game,” Grabill said. “To go down with less than two minutes to play, and to have the resilience and the courage to come back and get a goal that tied the game, it’s just amazing.”

Hanover set up for a similar kick in double overtime, but this time, McEacharn was able to make a diving stop.

“It seemed like it was similar to the shot that sent us to overtime,” he said. “I see Asa getting up there and I’m like ‘there is no way I can let this happen again.’ I tried to set the wall a little better and get ready a little quicker and make the save.”

No. 4 Concord 2, No. 1 Bedford 1 (2OT)

Bryce Currier scored two goals for Concord (14-1-4), including the game-winner with 6:20 left in the second overtime, to send the Crimson Tide to the championship game for the first time since 2008.

Currier’s first goal came with a little more than 21 minutes remaining in regulation, tying the game 1-1 less than three minutes after Bedford’s Alexander Pratt scored to give the Bulldogs (16-2-1) the lead.

Up to that point, Concord coach Steve Dunlop hadn’t been happy with the way his team was playing, as the Tide were unable to generate many opportunities in the game’s first 50 minutes.

“Tremendous effort from both sides, it was a tight game from beginning to end,” he said. “We didn’t have much consistency through the first 60 minutes, but once we found that, we were able to establish our play.

“The last month, (Currier) has been the guy up top for us. He’s been really consistent and he’s been the guy we’ve been looking for to give us the push up front.”

Concord will be looking for its first title since 2005 while Londonderry hasn’t won since 1999.