No. 3-seed Pioneers absorb tough defeat

By MARC THALER
Staff Writer

CLASS ACTION – Trinity senior Aly Jodoin of Hooksett (right) beats Concord’s Marissa Geiger to the ball, redirecting it late in the second half of the Crimson Tide’s 1-0 upset of the third-seeded Pioneers at Camp Carpenter in Manchester during the Class L preliminary round on Wednesday, Oct. 27. (Marc Thaler Photo)

MANCHESTER – The postgame tears said it all. After a tremendous regular season that saw the ladies of Trinity High School go 12-4 in Class L soccer and sew up the postseason’s No. 3 seed, the Pioneers were ousted by No. 14 Concord, 1-0, in the state tournament’s preliminary round at Camp Carpenter on Wednesday, Oct. 27.

The lone goal was registered relatively early in the contest when Concord striker Calley Benoit corralled a loose ball deep in Trinity’s end, dribbled toward the net and planted a shot in the top-right corner for the go-ahead goal roughly 15 minutes into the match.

“When you go down a goal, you’ve gotta look to turn it around and go on the attack,” said Trinity head coach Gary Karibian. “You don’t have a choice. We stuck to our game plan for the rest of the first half and changed our game plan at halftime. We changed to a slightly more offensive (style of play).”

Despite the Pioneers’ ability to dominate play and keep the majority of activity on the visitors’ half of the field for most of the match, there would be no equalizer that afternoon.

Similarly, there was no magic message Karibian could give his players to lighten the mood in the aftermath of the stunner.

“These girls come from a highly competitive background,” Karibian said.

“They’re all very good players and losing isn’t taken lightly. Having that competitive attitude, they all want to win the state championship. Everybody wants to win a state championship. But what I did tell them was we finished in third place, which as far as I understand, was the second highest position Trinity has ever finished ... They were 6-8-2 last year, so there’s a lot to be proud of. But you can’t say much to make them feel better.”

The defeat proved to be a double-downer as the Pioneers lost to the Crimson Tide in overtime, 2-1, during the regular season. Still, Karibian said the result of the first meeting had no impact on the outcome of the second.

“We drilled it into the girls’ heads that everybody in the playoffs are in first place,” Karibian said. “Everybody is 0- 0-0. That 12-4 record means nothing once you go to the playoffs. The game that we played with them in the past was done. It was over.

“I give (Concord) a lot of credit,” he added. “They’re a much, much better team (since the Sept. 24 meeting). “But to be fair to my team, we dominated, especially in the second half, especially towards the end. We had some unlucky breaks. Their goal keeper made some great saves. But I don’t think there’s any question that we dominated ... It’s frustrating because, with all due respect to Concord, I think we played well enough to win this game.”

The ladies who contributed to Trinity’s tremendous run in ’04 included seniors Ashley Blouin, Katie DeRosa, Caela Goumas of Goffstown, Aly Jodoin of Hooksett, Mallory Murrel, Britni Sanders and Danielle St. Pierre; juniors Lani Burgess, Lauren Duhaime, Andrea Gagnon of Hooksett, Chelsea Moreau, Esperance Ndombe, Meghan O’Shaughnessy and Alice Palazzolo of Bedford; sophomores Jessica Lacourse, Abby Green of Bedford and Chelsea Smith of Bedford; and freshmen Mary Garon of Auburn, Lauren Jodoin of Hooksett, Kristen Lipset of Auburn and Jessica Luscinski of Bedford.

“As a coach, you can sit back and appreciate (the season),” Karibian said. “But as a player who just played their last game and will never put on a Trinity jersey again, it doesn’t mean much. Hopefully, once the tears go away, they can take away that they were 12-4 and it was a great season.”