Sabers hang on for win over Panthers

AMHERST – The final two minutes of a four-goal soccer game don’t usually reveal a lot about the two teams involved.

In the last 120 seconds of Tuesday’s crossover game between the Nashua High School South and Souhegan girls soccer teams, one team got a glimpse of who it really is while the other learned there are still some areas that need work.

With the Sabers leading 5-1 with less than two minutes to play, the Panthers scored twice to cut the deficit in half. The final goal, the second of the game for South’s Katie Conmy, came just seconds before the final buzzer, ending the Panthers’ rally and signaling a reprieve for the Sabers in the form of a 5-3 victory.

While South (4-3) once against showed its grit and never-say-die attitude, Souhegan (7-0) was left with more than a few questions.

“We’ve hit that part now where they need to keep improving, but the young kids might think we’re already there,” Souhegan coach Dwayne Andreasen said. “The challenge is to stay connected with each other and still be able to work hard on the stuff that we still need to work on.

“Everybody needs to do their job all the time. No reason why we should let any team score two goals in 30 seconds. That’s unacceptable.”

Andreasen and South coach Manfred Beyer agreed the ending was a testament to the way the Panthers have played all season.

“We were down and it seemed like the world was going to cave in and we never threw in the towel,” said Beyer, who, because of injuries, had just one substitute who plays regularly with the varsity. “We kept fighting, fighting, fighting. I’ve never had a team that has been this beat up and had so few subs, and played with a drive and fire that this group does. They never quit.”

[For more photos from this game, go here.]

Kelsea Bemis led Souhegan with two goals and three assists, while Madison Learned had two goals and an assist and Sonya Cicci also had a goal. Xan Clark added an assist for the Sabers and Holly Bourassa made nine saves.

South got two goals from Conmy, the first on a penalty kick in the 45^th minute, and Alexa Estrada also had a goal for the Panthers.

The teams went back and forth throughout the early part of the game, with South controlling the ball in the midfield and forcing play into Souhegan’s end. But while the Panthers were keeping the pressure on, it was the Sabers who had the early scoring chances.

The Panthers were able to keep the game scoreless early thanks to some stellar work in goal by Bruna dePaula. Early on, dePaula stopped a shot and then blocked the rebound while still down on the ground.

Halfway through the first, Learned brought the ball into the Panthers’ end and sent in a shot that dePaula stopped. Bemis was there for the rebound, but dePaula made the save again.

But this time, the rebound went through, rolling in front of the empty net toward Learned. Before she could get a shot off, South’s Christa Fisher came in and battled with Learned to get the ball out of harm’s way.

“They came out and owned the middle of the field for the first 20 or 30 minutes,” Andreasen said. “Their keeper did a fantastic job, I thought, to keep them in it.”

The Sabers finally broke through with just under 13 minutes left in the first half when Bemis lofted a shot that dePaula couldn’t reach. Just four minutes later, Learned broke in on her own and sent in a shot that was just beyond a diving dePaula to make it 2-0 for Souhegan.

“It makes it really tough on them,” Andreasen said. “They had some great opportunities and didn’t finish. We get a couple of breakaways and score.”

But Beyer didn’t think it was tough for his team.

“I think for most teams, it is, but for us, it wasn’t,” he said. “With our attitude it wasn’t because we knew we played well enough that we could have possibly scored. We just didn’t hit the back of the net. We would classify it as a slight inconvenience and keep on playing.”

The Panthers made it 2-1 on Conmy’s penalty kick less than six minutes into the second half. But goals by Bemis and Learned just 38 seconds apart put Souhegan up 4-1 with 27 minutes to play.

It could have been more, as both Learned and Bemis had a few more breakaways, but neither one could finish. Cicci made it 5-1 with 16:29 left and it looked like Souhegan would cruise to the win.

But South continued to apply pressure, and it finally paid off on Estrada’s goal, which came off a rebound of a shot by Conmy.

“This score did not reflect the effort that they put in,” Andreasen said.

Both teams return to action on Friday, as Souhegan heads to Con-Val and South hosts Alvirne.