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Oyster River-Portsmouth girls advance to D1 hockey final, knock off No. 1 Pinkerton

al pike
·4 min read

CONCORD — Stung by a first-period goal despite a wide discrepancy in shots in its favor, it didn’t take long for the Oyster River-Portsmouth High School girls hockey team to shake it off.

The No. 4 ClipperCats responded less than a minute later for the first of five unanswered goals as they rolled to a 5-2 victory over top-seed Pinkerton Academy in the first of two Division I semifinals Tuesday night at Everett Arena.

“That’s what good teams do,” said coach Jamie Long. “When they get scored on, they go back and get the next goal and we did. We didn’t take the gas pedal off. A hard-fought game, but I think we dominated it from the opening puck drop to the end.”

From the left, Eliza Farwell, Meagan Rinko, Sienna Metcalf and Emma Sahr celebrate one of Oyster River-Portsmouth's five goals during Tuesday night's semifinal win over Pinkerton Academy in Concord.
From the left, Eliza Farwell, Meagan Rinko, Sienna Metcalf and Emma Sahr celebrate one of Oyster River-Portsmouth's five goals during Tuesday night's semifinal win over Pinkerton Academy in Concord.

OR-Portsmouth will face No. 2 Hanover in the D-I final on Saturday at SNHU Arena in Manchester. The Marauders blanked Bishop Guertin, 6-0, in Tuesday’s other semifinal. The ClipperCats, who lost to Hanover 10-1 in the penultimate game of the regular season, are seeking the program’s first state title and have advanced to the championship game for the second year in a row.

OR-Portsmouth outshot the Astros, 51-22, as further proof of its domination as its relentless forechecking gave the PA skaters little time and space to operate.

Sophomore forward Eliza Farwell scored twice for the ClipperCats, who have handed Pinkerton two of its three losses. The first came just 31 seconds after the Astros took a 1-0 lead and the second put Oyster River-Portsmouth ahead to stay with 2:45 left in the first period.

Oyster River-Portsmouth's Eliza Farwell scores one of her two goals in Tuesday night's Division I semifinal game against Pinkerton Academy in Concord.
Oyster River-Portsmouth's Eliza Farwell scores one of her two goals in Tuesday night's Division I semifinal game against Pinkerton Academy in Concord.

“I think we had a really great game,” Farwell said. “We were really on top of them the whole time. Our forecheck was crazy. We were shooting constantly. Being aggressive really helped us. They messed it up. They bobbled it a lot. That aggressiveness was really emphasized.”

The ClipperCats (16-4), who have won 10 of their last 11 games, struck three more times in the second period on goals by Maeve Harney, Meagan Rinko and Mallory DeSantis to all but settle the issue. OR-Portsmouth led 5-1 after two periods. Rinko and DeSantis each had a goal and an assist.

Oyster River-Portsmouth's Mallory DeSantis watches the puck sail just wide of the Pinkterton cage with Ryleigh Belanger (15) and goalie Madison Beyor defending.
Oyster River-Portsmouth's Mallory DeSantis watches the puck sail just wide of the Pinkterton cage with Ryleigh Belanger (15) and goalie Madison Beyor defending.

Sophomore goalie Sage Bussiere, making just her third varsity start at the position, stopped 20 of 22 shots. Bussiere, who is a goalie in lacrosse and typically plays defense in hockey for the ClipperCats, took over between the pipes three games ago when the starter was sidelined by illness.

“I play goalie in lacrosse so I’m kind of using the same mindset here,” Bussiere said. “I just try to get everything. It’s good to have a short-term memory. I let everything go and just try to do my best.”

That technique was tested when she gave up a goal on the Astros’ second shot. The ClipperCats were outshooting Pinkerton, 9-1, at the time.

“It’s definitely different,” Bussiere said. “I’m a strong skater which is really helpful from defense. I block a lot of shots on D and it’s the same thing. Don’t let the puck get by me. Obviously, I’m not going to have perfect technique.

“Especially after that first goal it was definitely important to have a few shots to get me back in that mindset so I know I can save these shots,” she added. “It was the first good chance they had so it threw me off a little.”

With her team trailing 1-0, Farwell scored on the rebound of her own wrap-around attempt to tie the game.

“Getting that first goal is what you want to do all the time,” Farwell said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get that, but we came back hard. Fortunately, I got the rebound off the wraparound, and I’m super happy about that.”

Oyster River-Portsmouth's Mallory DeSantis watches the puck sail just wide of the PA cage with Ryleigh Belanger (15) and goalie Madison Beyor defending.
Oyster River-Portsmouth's Mallory DeSantis watches the puck sail just wide of the PA cage with Ryleigh Belanger (15) and goalie Madison Beyor defending.

Farwell scored again just 2:10 later on a breakaway to put OR-Portsmouth ahead for good.

“Tough line change for them,” Farwell said. “Meagan (Rinko) saw me right away and sent me a great pass.”

Rinko made 6it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 7:11 of the second period Harney put the ClipperCats up 4-1 with 1:25 remaining in the second and DeSantis added a buzzer-beater as OR-Portsmouth entered the third period with a four-goal lead.

Oyster River-Portsmouth's Kira Jacobs (16) protects the puck from Pinkerton's Savannah Demers during Tuesday night's playoff game in Concord.
Oyster River-Portsmouth's Kira Jacobs (16) protects the puck from Pinkerton's Savannah Demers during Tuesday night's playoff game in Concord.

Emily Gosselin and Riley Dunn each had a goal and an assist for Pinkerton, and freshman goalie Madison Beyor finished with 46 saves.

“Our backchecking was phenomenal,” Long said. “We have a pretty fast team. You don’t see any of our girls sitting still waiting for the puck, they go get it. We’ve got really good team speed.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Oyster River-Portsmouth girls hockey tops Pinkerton, reach D1 final