LACONIA – When they met in September, Campbell won by a goal. In the October rematch, Belmont forced a scoreless draw. Tuesday’s third act completed the upward trend for the No. 6 Belmont girls’ soccer team as it implemented lessons learned to claim a 2-0 win over No. 2 Campbell in the Division III semifinals.
“We know this team,” Belmont Coach Cevat Vural said of the Cougars.
The Raiders (13-4-2) couldn’t find shots in the middle of the field during the regular-season meetings with Campbell (14-2-1), so the game plan going into the semifinal was to shoot from the outside. Belmont senior Kelsey Scott followed the plan and found two goals.
Defensively, the Raiders knew they had to pay extra attention to Erin Douglas, the Cougars’ leading scorer and the only player who scored in the regular-season meetings. Belmont’s Jasmine Syed shadowed Douglas and the Raiders didn’t allow a shot on goal until there was just 14 minutes left in the game.
“(Syed) also marked (Douglas) at the end of the second regular-season game,” Belmont keeper Mariah Watson said. “It worked then and I think it affected how (Douglas) played today.”
The Raiders are on their third coach in three years, a lack of continuity that would stagger some teams. But Belmont has absorbed and blended the lessons from its coaching carousel and turned it into a run to Sunday’s final against No. 1 Fall Mountain.
“(Vural) definitely has a different style form our past coaches, Amy Dutton and Nikki Steinhart, but I think every year, we’re taking things from all the coaches and we’re implementing them together,” Scott said. “I think we’ve learned a lot from everyone, but he’s just big on staying intense and that’s what got us so far.”
Belmont’s roster is depleted with injuries and the Raiders played just one sub, but that didn’t stop them from opening with intensity and owning the first 60 minutes of the game.
The Raiders controlled early by stringing together smooth passing sequences on the artificial turf at Laconia High. Scott, Sarah Chase, Makenzie Donovan and Lizzie Fleming stood out, but the entire team jumped into the act. Defenders pushed forward, midfielders overlapped and distributed and forwards angled runs into dangerous spaces.
The impressive possession turned into a goal after just six minutes when Scott found shooting room against a stretched out Campbell defense. Sure the room was from 25 yards away on the right side, but that didn’t stop Scott from pulling the trigger on a stunning shot that ended up in the far side netting for a 1-0 Belmont lead.
“I was like, ‘hey, might as well take it,’ ” Scott said. “Our goal coming in to the game was to take a lot of shots from out wide because last time we played them, we didn’t get a lot of shots at all … I just had faith on that one.”
The Raiders didn’t relent after the first goal as Hannah Shirley, Kaitlyn Delisle and Julianna Estremera added to the offensive push. Belmont controlled play so thoroughly that Campbell didn’t put a ball inside the Belmont 18 for the first 15 minutes and didn’t get off any shots, never mind shots on goal, in the first half.
The Raiders carried that momentum into the second half and Scott doubled the lead in the 52nd minute. Once again the scoring strike came from the right side, this time from the top of the 18. The ball took a deflection off a Campbell defender and the altered flight path sent the shot into the side netting.
The Cougars sent more players forward in the final 20 minutes and finally dented the Belmont defense, but the Raiders never broke. Watson came off her line smartly when needed. Syed kept tracking Douglas. Sana Syed and Fleming both stepped to the ball to stop dangerous forays. Delisle worked relentlessly on the flank.
“This game was a huge deal for us and we just vowed that we’ve got to go hard the whole game,” Scott said, “and I think we did an amazing job with that.”
When the final defending was done, the Raiders streamed toward Watson to celebrate.
“The fact that were going into (the) final is pretty surreal,” Watson said. “It honestly doesn’t feel like we just won, but it’s definitely awesome.”
“Coming into this season we just wanted to get past the quarterfinals because we always get stumped in the quarterfinals, especially for my group of six seniors,” Scott said. “So making the semifinals was huge for us, but we’re past that now and going to the final for the first time since 2005. It’s crazy.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or at tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)