HOLLIS, NH — Jesse Gertz scored with 40 seconds remaining in regulation, lifting No. 5 Hollis-Brookline over No. 12 Trinity High in the opening round of the Division II State Tournament, Wednesday afternoon.
With time winding down and overtime seemingly imminent, H-B’s Ben Dufoe rifled a shot that deflected off the goalpost. The rebound pinballed, with Trinity keeper Drew Overy and back Fritzgrald Aristor both making contact in an attempt to clear. But the ball wound up on the foot of Gertz, who drilled it into the back of the net for the game-winner.
The loss overshadowed a brilliant effort by Overy, who kept his team in contention in the second half with a series of spectacular saves, each, seemingly, more eye-popping than the one before.
“Drew just made massive saves throughout the game,” said Trinity Coach Phil Tuttle. “When you’re a lower seeded team, you need your keeper to play really, really well. Obviously not give up any soft ones but at the same time, like he did today, he had five, six, seven big saves. It was a lot of saves that really kept us in the game.”
Hollis-Brookline (12-4-1) advances to take on No. 4 Lebanon (12-4-0), Sunday at 2 p.m.
For Trinity (5-11-1), the loss brings to an end an eventful first season in Division II. After struggling mightily in September, the Pioneers won four of their final seven regular season games to sneak into the tournament. Tuttle said the experience his young squad gained this season will help the program grow and strengthen in the coming years.
“All the guys that are coming back got a chance to taste what this is,” said Tuttle. “We had to really heavily on our freshmen group this year. For freshmen to get this type of experience against highly skilled teams and in a playoff environment, you get to carry that experience as a freshmen for the next three years. That’s a big deal.”
Trinity knew, entering the game, that scoring opportunities would be at a premium against Hollis-Brookline keeper Owen Ford. The Cavaliers have allowed just nine goals all season. Among their eight shutouts in the regular season was a 5-0 whitewash of Trinity in early September. That day, the Pioneers found themselves simply outclassed, from opening whistle.
Wednesday’s playoff game was a war.
The first half was a tightly marked, back-and-forth battle. Trinity’s midfielders, led by Evan Pearson and Drew Stephen held their own and prevented Hollis-Brookline’s talented mid Hunter Crea from dominating play. Trinity’s backs, anchored by Ian Shamel and Aristor, did an excellent job marking H-B’s forwards, preventing clean looks against Overy.
“The first half of the season was pretty rough for us, one win, a tie, lots of losses that were 5-0, 4-0. It was pretty brutal for these guys,” said Tuttle. “For these guys to come in today with a completely different mentality, to play this team the way we did … we held these guys 0-0 until 40 seconds left in the game. I feel pretty good about that.”
No. 12 Trinity have No. 5 Hollis-Brookline everything it could handle in their D-II opening round showdown.@ManchInkLink @nhsportspage @nhhssports pic.twitter.com/SDQybwrgqq
— Bill Gilman (@bgilman66) October 27, 2022
The young Pioneers were only able to maintain the intensity for so long and they showed signs of fatigue in the second half. Hollis-Brookline came out after halftime and ramped up its attack. The Cavaliers dominated the first five minutes, giving Gertz two clear scoring bids. The first clanged off the crossbar and the second was stopped with a spectacular kick save by Overy.
It would be a sign of things to come. Hollis-Brookline outshot Trinity 14-3 in the second half. Time and again, Overy would frustrate the Cavaliers with a variety of stops, including a leaping punch save on Parker Cheyne and a diving stop on Colin Mags, moments later.
But the crown jewel of Overy’s highlight reel performance was a kick save from six feet away on a wide open Dufoe with just over two minutes remaining.
Trinity’s scoring chances were few and far between in the second half. A few shots from distance were easily handled by Ford. The Pioneers best bid came in the 65th minute when Pearson snuck past the Cavaliers back got a clear run at a long lead pass. But Ford saw the play develop, aggressively came out from the net and beat Pearson to the ball by a half-step.
Later, Nate Shipman struck a freekick from midfield to the front of the H-B net. Jonah Voveris went high to try and get a head on the ball but Ford collided with him, mid-air, and got just enough of the ball to knock it away.
