Ruhnke's OT goal beats Bedford, sends Portsmouth girls soccer to DI state championship
EXETER - The last five games between the Portsmouth High School girls soccer team and Bedford have all been decided by one goal. Bedford won three of those games, including the past two Division I semifinal meetings.
The teams met for the third straight year in the Division I semifinal round, but on this night, it was the Clippers who celebrated a one-goal win at Exeter High School.
More: Portsmouth girls soccer advances to Division I semis with 1-0 win over Hanover
Morgan Ruhnke's goal on a free kick from 25 yards out 5 minutes into overtime gave the second-seeded Clippers a 1-0 win over Bedford and an invitation to Sunday's Division I state championship game. Portsmouth beat No. 3 Bedford by the same score in the regular season.
Ruhnke's shot snuck just under the hands of the Bedford goalie and the Clippers stormed the field in jubilation.
"It's really awesome that I can be a big contributor for the game, but it's just definitely the team effort in general," Ruhnke said after the win. "Everyone is just working so hard to get it out there, and we all worked really hard today."
No. 2 Portsmouth will play top-seeded Timberlane on Sunday at 1 p.m at Exeter High School. The Owls advanced with a 2-1 win over No. 4 Exeter.
"It was really an amazing feeling," Ruhnke said about her game-winning strike. "Our team worked so hard for this. To see it pay off is really important, especially after losing two years in a row (to Bedford)."
Portsmouth's Annie Parker said she's just so happy for Ruhnke, who also scored the game-winning goal in Portsmouth's quarterfinal win over Hanover.
"I'm just so happy for her and for our team," Parker said. "If anyone deserves it, (Morgan) does. She played an incredible game, and our defense played an incredible game. It's just so awesome to see other people contribute, get that light, and get their name in the paper, it's awesome."
The Clippers have been knocking on the state championship game door, and now have finally kicked it open.
"I think it just shows how far we've come," Parker said. "It's hard to beat (Bedford) once in the season, let alone twice. So, it's just an incredible feeling and it just shows how far we've come as a team. I think we're honestly an under-rated team. We don't get looked at as much, but this is a huge win and it's a great confidence boost."
Portsmouth goalie Haley Coombs was standing on the other side of the field and had a great view of the winning goal.
"I was so incredibly happy, like I can't even put it into words," Coombs said. "We worked so hard. We've never made it to the finals, especially in Division I. We went to Division I my sophomore year, this is just the most incredible feeling ever. This is what I've been wanting my entire life as far back that I remember, so it's just amazing."
Coombs had seven saves in the win.
"She's the best goalie in the state, there's no one close," Portsmouth head coach Mickey Smith said. "She just covers the entire goal, plays the entire field and she's a rock back there for us every time, we love her."
The Clippers have never won a state championship and last played for a state title in 2015, a 2-0 loss to Hanover in Division II.
"This just means everything," Smith said. "We've been battling Bedford for three years, whether the regular season or the postseason. It's now six one-goal games we've played with them, and we're now 3-3. They've beaten us in the semifinals two years in a row, and we finally got one here. For us to come out with a victory against them in this atmosphere, is just huge for the program."
'We want this so bad'
That was the message in the Portsmouth huddle after regulation heading into overtime.
"We had a talk at the end of the game, and we were all like 'we want this, we want this so bad, we've worked for this so hard'," Ruhnke said. "So we all just continued (to play hard)."
"We knew that we could beat them, because we beat them in the regular season," Coombs said. "We knew we were willing to do anything it takes. We were going to work as hard as we can, we just wanted to go off the field knowing we put every single thing that we could into this game. We wanted to be proud of how we played no matter what."
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth girls soccer beats Bedford in semifinal on Ruhnke OT goal
