BEDFORD - Slow starts aren't totally foreign to Merrimack Valley field hockey Coach Kim Kenney. Over the course of the Pride's unblemished 16-0 season, Kenney has watched her club start slow on occasion, then take over. But with a trip to the Class I final on the line, a sluggish outset was probably the last thing she expected.

Fourth-ranked Portsmouth totally outplayed the top-seeded Pride, running MV all over the Bedford High School field during the opening 18 minutes last night. But like it's done all season, the Pride endured the Clippers early onslaught, then took over.

Danielle Davis and Jen Otis scored just nine minutes apart midway through the second half, giving MV all the scoring it would need in a 2-0 victory that advances the Pride into its second final in school history and first since 2003.

"This feels really good," said Davis, who was a sophomore when MV lost to Lebanon, 2-0, in the 2006 semifinals. "We all worked really hard for this. It just such a good feeling."

The Pride (17-0) will face No. 2 Kennett (16-1) on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Bedford.

Certainly, had the Pride lost to the Clippers (12-4-1), there would have been plenty of reasons for the defeat. The pressures of being unbeaten, the near-freezing weather, or even the lack of experience between the pipes, just to name a few. The latter, however, couldn't be further from reality.

On a team loaded with seniors - 11 to be exact - the Pride has leaned on the upstart talents of sophomore netminder Kaitlyn Warren. And during the opening five minutes, Warren was tested unlike at any other point thus far in the tournament.

Portsmouth's Morgan MacLeod unleashed a howitzer at Warren less than two minutes in, but the keeper kicked the blast away as coolly as the crisp winter-like weather that ascended upon the field.

"We were excited to be here to start the game and I don't think we were cold, we warmed up well, practices have gone well, I just think Portsmouth had a lot of adrenaline and played like they had nothing to lose and came after us," Kenney said. "And (Warren) kept us in it during that early flurry. She's aggressive out there and knows what she means to the team, that's why she's such a good goalie."

The Clippers fired 10 shots at Warren during the first half, but only three found their way on goal. The third stop by the sophomore came with just over 12 minutes remaining - it would also be her last.

MV controlled the tempo from that point forward, but maybe the biggest reason the Clippers struggled offensively was due to the unrelenting play of junior Katie Kowalski. Kenney, who scouted Portsmouth toward the end of the regular season in anticipation of a meeting with the defending runner-up, assigned Kowalski to shadow the Clippers most potent offensive threat, Mary Quill.

Not only did Kowalski keep Quill contained, she held her without a shot and essentially irrelevant over the 60 minutes of play.

"Mary controlled the whole game when we watched them play against Oyster River," Kenney said, "so we marked her tonight. I can't say enough about what Katie did today. We asked her to do something totally new and she did a fantastic job."

With Quill under wraps and Portsmouth's initial burst pacified, the Pride carried its late first-half momentum into the second half. MV's best chance to break the scoreless deadlock came less than five minutes into the second frame when Laura Egounis blasted a shot from the top of the circle that deflected just wide of the right post. Otis also had a chance at the eight-minute mark but a quick stab of the left pad by Portsmouth goalie Catherine Sodini (six saves) kept the game at a stalemate.

Then came the corner that broke the frozen knot.

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