BEDFORD, N.H. — Timberlane senior Krista Deluca, who never started on varsity until this season, said she always feels the same level of excitement before every game and that she was not extra fired up to play for the Class L title yesterday.
Deluca, however, looked extra fired up.
The senior was involved in each of Timberlane's three scoring plays. She recorded one goal and two assists to lead the Owls past rival Pinkerton 3-2 in overtime.
"I'm excited for all the games but this one definitely we had just come so far and it would've been such a disappointment if we lost," Deluca said.
Deluca worked hard in the offseason to improve. She was on varsity last year but didn't start. She scored five goals and recorded nine assists this fall.
"I'm probably not playing in college and I just wanted to (go out with a) bang senior year," she said.
Deluca's unassisted goal came with 27:14 left in the first and tied the game 1-1. She scored off a rebound after Nikki Rothwell fired a shot at goalie Gina Rosinski.
"During practices and everything coach is always like, 'On pads, on pads,'" Deluca said. "So I knew I had to be there because Nikki's shots are really good."
Timberlane coach Mim Ryan added about Deluca: "This year, she came in after working hard in the summer. She did summer league. Her stick skills improved immensely. She played with a lot more confidence. This is the only sport she plays. It's special."
Close call
Timberlane outscored its 14 regular-season opponents 50-5.
In the playoffs, however, the Owls squeezed a 2-1 overtime quarterfinal victory over Manchester Memorial, then beat Exeter 1-0 in a thrilling semifinal contest before capping off the perfect run with its OT victory over Pinkerton.
"I said to them (before OT), 'We started off our tournament run this year with an overtime game with Memorial so what the hell, might as well end it (with one), too," Ryan said.
When Timberlane fell behind Pinkerton 1-0 only 1:16 into the game, it marked just the second time this season the Owls trailed during a contest.
"They scored early, which was kind of upsetting but we had the whole rest of the game to get back into it," Timberlane goalie Katalin Orban said. "Obviously, it's going to worry you going down in the state finals. But the team did really well to get back."
Deluca added: "It (getting down early) gave us more motivation to score more."
Lots of goals early
The two rival schools combined for two goals in the first 2 minutes and three goals in the first 10 minutes and four goals in the first half.
"I was overwhelmed actually," Pinkerton's Brittany Gentile said about the scoring.
Pinkerton had six corners. Timberlane had four.
Shannon Murphy and Shealyn Testa scored for the Astros.
"We really haven't played any seven (against) seven this season," Gentile said. "I guess we just didn't use each other as much as we should've. All throughout the game there was a lot of dribbling, which we should've cut down on. I'm guilty of it."
