Pinkerton girls soccer tops Londonderry to win D1 title (video)

EXETER – Steve Gundrum wanted his Pinkerton Academy girls soccer team to be ready for anything that might come its way in the postseason.

For the last few weeks, that’s meant practicing penalty kicks, just in case.

The No. 1 Astros made that practice pay off Sunday in the Division I final, as they won the program’s first championship by beating No. 3 Londonderry 4-3 on penalty kicks after played a hundred minutes of scoreless soccer.

Pinkerton (19-1) hit on all four of its attempts, getting PK goals from Courtney Velho, Catherine Goodwin, Reanna Romano and Melanie Roberge. When goalie Samantha Mitchell stopped Londonderry’s Mackenzie Donovan, the senior captain rushed to her teammates to celebrate.

“We practice PKs so much and it paid off,” Gundrum said. “They are a great defensive team. To score on them is quite an accomplishment and we didn’t get that. We played pretty well defensively as well. Either team could have won.”

Halle Hamilton, Samantha LeClair and Erin Barnes scored for Londonderry (16-4), which was also looking for its first championship.

“It was a matter of if we get a chance, we need to finish it,” Londonderry coach Derek Dane said. “We didn’t. Neither team finished their chances. I felt like we had an opportunity to win it the entire time.”

Pinkerton almost took the lead late in the first half, when the Lancers were called for a handball in the box. Velho took the penalty kick, but struck it too far to the right, sending the ball wide of the goal.

“I’m just glad Courtney (Velho) got redemption,” Gundrum said. “She put one in the net.

“I let (Mitchell) read. She can read and sometimes she makes the wrong read, but if you put it near her, she’s going to stop it. That was the difference.”

Londonderry goalie Jaclyn Luckhardt was the difference for a stretch at the end of the first half and beginning of the second, as the senior made a couple of saves that kept Pinkerton off the board. The Astros controlled play for the first part of the second half, but the Lancers were able to keep the ball out of the net and finally started to counter.

Mitchell had to make a leaping save on a shot Donovan with 25 minutes left in regulation, as she punched the ball over the goal, setting up a corner kick for Londonderry. The kick sailed over Mitchell and looked like it might go in, but Keara Doolan was there to head it out.

“We did the same thing the other night, where we initially defended too deep, and once we moved out a little bit, we started pressing, we were better,” Dane said. “I felt like them missing that penalty was our, we’ll call it second life. I felt like we could build on it and I thought we did for a period of time, and unfortunately, we faded again. We backed off a bit. I loved the effort and they left it on the field.”

Neither team had any great chances in the two overtimes, until Pinkerton’s Nicole Alves got the ball past Luckhardt late in the second OT. But the Londonderry defense collapsed on the ball and cleared it away, helping to set up penalty kicks.

“Before the game, I said unfortunately, someone has to win or lose,” Gundrum said. “Someone is going to be very happy and someone is going to be very sad. It’s cliche, but either team could have won.”