As a four-year varsity starter for the Spartans, Laila Al-Shawafi knows a lot about soccer and her opponents. But in Wednesday’s playoff match, she trusted her instincts.
The senior goalkeeper made two saves in penalty kicks after 100 minutes of soccer ended in a 1-1 deadlock as the No. 10 Pembroke Spartans (7-7-3) upset the No. 7 Merrimack Valley Pride (7-5-5), 2-1, in the NHIAA Division II girls’ soccer preliminary round.
Juniors Layla Thorne and Lily Royer, and senior Giannah Michelson converted their penalty kicks to give Pembroke a 3-1 win in the shootout.
The Spartans had more scoring opportunities in the first half, but MV got on the board first when senior Izzy Navoy won the ball in a scramble after a long throw-in to the box and booted it past Al Shawafi from the top of the box for a 1-0 lead in the 58th minute.
Two minutes later, junior Ava Alberico sent a cross into the box that Pride senior goalie Jordan Monaghan and a pair of MV defenders all charged at, but paused and the cross settled at the feet of Pembroke freshman Paige Bemis, who calmly poked the ball into a wide-open net for the game-tying goal.
“I’m so proud of the girls for persevering and bouncing back not long after (going down 1-0),” Pembroke head coach Jess Kaufman-Desrocheres said. “Within a couple of minutes, a goal can be scored in either direction. We showed that today.”
The Pride, who won the regular-season matchup 1-0 when the two teams met on Sept. 26, played on the front foot for most of the remainder of the game and possessed the ball well, but that one miscommunication in the 60th minute proved costly.
“I think we had so much control over that game. Our possession was great,” MV head coach Danielle Wiley said. “We were trying to play real good soccer. I think the girls worked really hard. They had to work really hard, it was so physical. Our first goal was invigorating, the goal we let in was a miscommunication. It happens, it’s a hard place for it to happen, but that’s soccer.”
Pembroke’s Lily Royer (8) chases Merrimack Valley’s Izzy Navoy (24) during an NHIAA Division II girls’ soccer preliminary round match at Merrimack Valley High School on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. Navoy scored for MV, but Pembroke advanced with a 2-1 victory after winning the penalty kick shootout 3-1. Credit: CHIP GRIFFIN / Photos by Chip 
Merrimack Valley’s Jada Lucas (left) defends against Pembroke’s Ava Alberico (right) during an NHIAA Division II girls’ soccer preliminary round match at Merrimack Valley High School on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. Credit: CHIP GRIFFIN / Photos by Chip
Junior midfielder Lila Gray was key in controlling the pace of the match for MV and senior central defenders Jada Lucas and Ella Mercer didn’t let Pembroke get many looks at Monaghan. Freshman Madelyn White, and juniors Sophie Porter and Gabrielle Jones displayed their speed on the wings to make deep runs into Pembroke territory.
But the Pride couldn’t find the final touch in the attacking third and the Spartan defense – Royer, juniors Giuls Davis and Journey Keeley, and Michelson – stayed calm and composed when pressured in the second half and extra time.
“It’s become a focus to defend as a team and do some things and play some positions that might be out of their comfort zone or not as preferred and they rose to the challenge today,” Kaufman-Desrochers said. “They put the team first. It was noted today.”
MV shot first in penalty kicks and Gray netted the opening shot to give the Pride a 1-0 lead. Thorne tied it 1-1 and the next Pride shot went off the cross bar. Royer’s strike made it 2-1 Pembroke and Al-Shawafi stopped the next to MV attempts with a diving save to her right and quick block to her left.
“I try and block out everybody around me, it’s so chaotic,” Al-Shawafi said. “But really, I just kinda focus on the ball. I try to get in the players’ head by looking at them, that eye contact. It’s a feeling you can’t explain. Usually when a player looks at a corner, they’re not going to go there. It’s 50/50. I trusted my gut and I thought they were going to go the opposite way and that’s what they did.”
It was another heartbreaking exit for the Pride, who lost in overtime in last year’s quarterfinal round.
“Ending on PKs is bitter, but that’s soccer for you,” Wiley said. “I’m proud of what my girls did. They left everything they had out there. We’re going to miss our seniors. We have wonderful, wonderful seniors. We have a good group of underclassmen and hopefully we’ll be back next season.”
On the other side of the pitch, Pembroke played the spoiler for the second year in a row, also winning in penalty kicks on the road in last year’s prelim as the No. 9 seed at ConVal.
The Spartans will play at No. 2 Oyster River (9-2-5) in Saturday’s quarterfinal at 3 p.m. Pembroke and the Bobcats played to a scoreless draw on Oct. 7.