MANSFIELD, Mass. – Penalty shootouts are unnerving experiences. Your season is on the line and most of the team can do little more than watch from the middle of the field, as teammates step to the spot or toe the goal line and try to become heroes. If you’re going to have to go through a shootout, then it helps having a record-holding senior standing in goal.
Olivia Salisbury made five saves in regulation and overtime, but it was her two stops in the shootout that eventually decided Wednesday night’s visit of Longmeadow to Alumni Field. The Hornets advanced 4-3 on penalties after the game finished 2-2.
Longmeadow forward Samantha Goodrich, who scored the first for the Lancers as they battled back to force overtime, stepped up to take the first penalty. Salisbury bounced a couple of times, planted, and dove to her right, getting two hands to the shot. After Bridget Hanley made no mistake to put the Hornets ahead 1-0, Salisbury, who set a new school record for career clean sheets this season, was able to this time go down to her left and palm Jamie Greenman’s shot around the post.
“We do at least two or three rounds [of PKs] every day, so it’s definitely a lot of practice but then again you never know when it’s people that you’ve never taken PKs against,” Salisbury said afterwards. “You have to just go in thinking that you can save it.”
She added, “After saving the first one, it definitely set the pace for me. I got way more excited and then after stopping the second one I was very, very excited.”
Mansfield would put the next penalty over the bar and Longmeadow scored to cut the lead to 2-1, but Brooke Penney and Courtney Croak, a pair of players who saw little action during the game, both scored to put the Hornets on the brink.
Catherine Pelliccia powered her penalty past the dive of Salisbury, meaning senior Olivia Homsi would get the chance to close things out and keep her, and Mansfield’s season, alive. She gave the Longmeadow keeper no chance, finding the bottom left corner to seal the win. As she raced back to midfield, Homsi was engulfed by half of her teammates, while the rest went to congratulate Salisbury.
“She made two good saves,” Mansfield coach Kevin Smith said about Salisbury. “She’s been fantastic. I’d put her up against anyone in the state as a goalie, I really would.”
When asked about his final goal scorer, Smith added, “She broke her wrist in the OA game and she said, I’ll be ready for PKs coach, I’ll be ready for PKs and thankfully she got cleared to play.”
Mansfield started the game well. Maddie Fernandes played Avery Hawthorne into the left channel and her deflected shot was held by the keeper. Two minutes later, Olivia Dunham’s corner was flicked onto classmate Lauren Signoriello at the back post, but the freshman’s shot went wide.
In the 18th minute, Alexandra Fernandes, who was a menace to the Longmeadow back line all night, made a smart turn and put a shot on goal that was spilled for a corner. This time, Dunham’s cross was to center back partner Kara Santos and she looped her header back across goal and over the keeper’s dive to make it 1-0.
Longmeadow was struggling to create good looks. Greenman tried an angled ball to Gracie DiStefano, but Dunham and Jill Koppy combined to clear the dangerous pass.
Eight minutes before the break, Mansfield doubled its lead. Hawthorne hit a cross-field pass to Fernandes on the right. The freshman had a beautiful touch to take it past her marker and then she fired a shot into the bottom far corner to make it 2-0.
Mansfield seemed to be in total control of the match, but the Lancers halved the deficit just seven minutes into the second half. Goodrich made a nice move onto her right foot and curled a 20-yard shot past the dive of Salisbury and just under the bar.
The Lancers had the momentum and nearly tied it when Teia Vengco crossed from the right to the back post, but Greenman wasn’t able to make clean contact and Salisbury was able to collect. A couple minutes later and the visitors did equalize. Goodrich played a beautiful one-touch pass over the top for Greenman in the left channel. The Mansfield back line was stretched and DiStefano was open in the middle for a tap in.
“Even being up 2-0, they were fantastic, they were a great team,” Smith said about the Lancers. “At halftime, we were talking that even up 2-0 we needed to keep going because they were so good that they can come back at any time and they did.”
Dunham would have one more chance before the end of regulation on a 30-yard free kick. The freshman hit it pure but the ball wouldn’t dip quite enough, crashing back off the crossbar.
In the second overtime, it was Longmeadow’s turn to come close to a winner. Goodrich was again the catalyst, turning her marker on the right side and smacking the bar from a tight angle. The rebound fell to Greenman bur again the contact wasn’t great and Salisbury was gratefully able to snag the shot.
That left penalties to decide things and Salisbury to provide the winning moments.
“It’s what the game is all about, that high intensity,” Salisbury explained. “In a game like this, where if you don’t win you’re done, it’s a crazy feeling and you want nothing more than to win. It’s such a different feeling than a regular season game or winning 3-0. It’s so more of a rewarding feeling.”
Smith added, “After full time, I said adversity makes champions, so what are we going to be? We finally had some adversity and it was good. It tested us and we came out the other side.”
Mansfield (13-3-4) will now travel to No. 3 seed Minnechaug on Saturday afternoon.