MANCHESTER - The game lacked the kind of offensive opportunities expected for a championship. Both teams were vigilant, combining for only three shots on goal with none finding a way past the goalkeepers through the first 80 minutes of yesterday's Class S girls' soccer final.

With eight minutes left in the first overtime, Derryfield's best chance to score came from a redirection off the head of MacKenzie Logan. But as the ball bounced off the turf and toward the right portion of the cage, Littleton's Ashley Hill chested the ball down and appeared to kick not only the ball away, but Cougars' repeat title hopes as well.

"I was definitely nervous that I had just wasted a great opportunity to end the game," Logan said.

She wouldn't waste her next.

Logan collected a pass from Mimi Coppinger just outside the Littleton 18-yard box, used a one-touch to sidestep the charging goalkeeper and sent the ball from her right foot into the gaping cage with 6:35 remaining in overtime. The goal ended the top-seeded Crusaders' (18-1-1) unbeaten streak and gave the second-seeded Cougars (16-3) their second consecutive championship.

"I'm just glad I got another chance," said Logan, a junior who also scored the game-winning goal in last year's 2-1 victory over Wilton-Lyndeborough. "This feels the same as last year, but that's not a bad thing. This just feels great."

"I had a feeling they were going to score," said Derryfield Coach Jack Sanford of Logan and Coppinger. "They have this extra-sensory perception and always seem to know where each other are."

While Logan and Coppinger will go down on the scoresheet as the heroes, it was the play of Kimberly Pollock, Carla Nyquist, Alisa deBruyn Kops and Alex Donovan - the ones that kept Littleton off the scoresheet - that were the veritable heroes.

The core unit stood strong in front of senior goalkeeper Andrea Green (three saves), who posted her 11th straight shutout and 15th overall for the season.

"I can't save everything, so they did a great job and were everywhere they needed to be today," said Green, who is one of three four-year seniors, along with Donovan and Sophia Moser, on the roster. "Words can't describe how much it means to end (our career) on this note."

The best opportunities of regulation came in the opening and closing minutes of the first half. Littleton tried to jump on Derryfield seconds after play opened when Reannan Gardner pounced on a loose ball inside the 18.

With Green out of position, Gardner blasted a shot destined for the twine in the bottom-right corner. But Nyquist, a sophomore, had other ideas as she sprawled in front of the shot, deflecting it wide with her right calf. Lindsey Glines had a bid moments later, but her shot skipped wide of the left post. Both opportunities came before 58 seconds had even ticked off the clock.

The next best chance for either team came in the closing seconds when the Crusaders' Lindsey Hadlock sent a lead pass into Julia Winn. The sophomore deflected the dish with her left foot, but the tip grazed Green before Donovan cleared the wide-open rebound out of bounds as time expired.

"(The defense) has been so solid over this sequence of shutouts, more than Andrea could have ever believed, I think," Sanford said. "And Alex Donovan wasn't about to let that end here tonight."

After a quiet second half in which only one shot was registered, the teams exchanged opportunities for the first 10 minutes of overtime.

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