Newmarket girls soccer will play in third straight Division IV championship Sunday
MANCHESTER - It took 32 years for the Newmarket High School girls soccer team to reach a state championship game - a loss to Littleton in the 2012 Division IV title game.
It only took five years to get back to a title game, and the Mules have basically been a championship game staple ever since.
Second-seeded Newmarket trailed for the first time all season in Thursday's Division IV semifinal against No. 3 Concord Christian at Manchester Memorial High School.
However, Emma Weick tied the game late in the first half, and Olivia Blackadar scored the game-winning goal midway through the second half and the two-time defending state champions hung on for a 2-1 win.
"Very impressed with the team’s resilience today," Newmarket head coach Andrew Dawson said. "We found ourselves behind by a goal for the first time this season against the best team we have played. Josh Winans has brought his Concord Christian team so far over the last few years and he deserves enormous credit for that."
It will be the sixth time in the past seven years that Newmarket will play for a championship, including the past three. Newmarket beat Woodsville, 1-0 for its first title in 2021, and then beat Portsmouth Christian Academy last year, 1-0.
Newmarket (17-0-1) will play top-seeded Profile (17-0-1) in Sunday's championship game, a 3:15 scheduled start at Memorial High School. Profile advanced with a 4-0 win over No. 4 Littleton in Thursday's late semifinal.
Newmarket and Profile did not play each other in the regular season. In fact, Dawson, in his 14th year as head coach, has never faced Profile.
"They looked very composed (against Littleton) playing a possession game with speed and precision," Dawson said. "We’re looking forward to our first matchup with them.
Blackadar assisted on Weick's goal, and Cora Davidson was credited with the assist on the game-winner.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Newmarket girls soccer beats Concord Christian in Division 4 semifinal
