EXETER – Lyndsey LaPerle stood 20 yards from the goal and slowed her breathing to calm herself down.
She was tripped a yard away from the goalie box, which would’ve given her a legitimate penalty shot. But only a yard out, the de facto shot on the free kick with 3:25 left in the overtime period sufficed.
The junior forward kicked the ball over the pair of Hollis-Brookline defenders in front of her and watched as the ball cruised into the left side of the net.
Her second goal of the night was one of a few bright spots offensively for the Falcons, but it was the goal they needed as they defeated Hollis-Brookline 2-1 in the Division II semifinals Thursday night at Bill Ball Stadium.
Bow spent a vast majority of the afternoon with its defense at the forefront of the match. The Cavaliers controlled possession by intercepting passes at midfield and playing their defenders up to create a back wall in order to keep the ball.
The Falcons struggled to contain Hollis-Brookline as it continued to generate shot after shot, testing goalie Cailyn Benson each time the ball was in the air.
“They almost came through a couple of times, but the defense held and Cailyn came in big,” Bow coach Jay Vogt said.
In a brief five minutes of game play, however, when the Falcons had the opportunity offensively, they made the most of it. LaPerle scored with under 10 minutes left in the first half and gave her team some breathing room.
Bow, which now makes its first appearance in the championship game since a runner-up finish in 2019, in both of its playoff games has relied on its defense to get it through the next round.
Against the Cavaliers, it modeled the sentiment of bend-don’t-break, and it almost broke a couple of times.
In the second half Hollis-Brookline freshman forward McKenna Maguire’s breakaway goal was waived off because she was offsides. Maguire and the rest of the Cavaliers offense continued to test the Falcons defense with ample amounts of corner kicks and free kick opportunities throughout the half.
As the clock dwindled down – and Bow hanging onto the ropes like boxer in a heavyweight bout – the Falcons defense had its lapse when it needed to stand most tall.
In the 75th minute, the Cavaliers junior midfielder Paige Magnuszewski scored after her shot smacked into the upper right hand corner of the goal.
Following a brief intermission at the end of regulation, the Falcons for the first time all afternoon took control of the match offensively.
Their usual play of driving the ball out from the wings and sending it into the middle of the field was straight out of the textbook on how to run the system.
With the sudden arrival of offense, it took nearly the whole 10 minute overtime period, but eventually the Falcons found the net for the second and final time.
“We talked about that this (a potential championship) is what we’ve been playing for,” Vogt said. “We still hadn’t played our game yet and we needed to come out with energy.”
Bow survived and now advances to Sunday’s championship game and faces a familiar opponent.
No. 1 Pembroke, the only team to have beaten the Falcons in the regular season.
The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. back at Bill Ball Stadium.