Concord was held to a scoreless overtime draw against Dover despite a strong offensive push at Rollins Park in the second annual Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser between the two teams.
The Tide (6-3-1) were evenly matched against their oceanic counterpart, the Dover Green Wave (7-4), in the “Alzheimer’s Showdown” on Wednesday afternoon.
Families from both teams connected through the Dover Center for Health and Rehabilitation and decided to turn the Concord-Dover game into an opportunity to have a bake sale and sell raffle tickets to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association, which funds research and resources for families.
Dover Center’s Jennifer Montague, the mother of Concord senior defender Lillian O’Hara, explained that her daughter organized the fundraiser and connected with Dover.
Montague said that studies have shown that physical activity and fitness can help prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s, so raising awareness and involving student-athletes is important.
In terms of the game, the two teams sat seventh and eighth in the standings, respectively, and a win for either could have been a tiebreaker for playoff seeding.
Concord struggled to find its rhythm in the first half but steadily improved throughout the match. The girls generated seven corners but only managed three shots on goal against a staunch Dover defense.
Head coach Nicole Armaganian was happy with her team’s focus to not concede a goal through five periods.
“I can’t ask for anything better,” she said.
Senior defender and midfielder Amy Desrochers said that the team could still improve on its passing and grow its connections on the field.
The team has now gone four games without a loss and will need to turn its draws into wins to improve its playoff chances.
“I feel like we’ve come really far, and I don’t think that we’re going stop working to become the best we can be,” Desrochers said after the game.
The Crimson Tide will move on to play away at Exeter (4-7) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. with a good chance to add to its win column.