Telegraph photo by HECTOR LONGO Merrimack High's Demetria Gonzalez gains control of the ball in the midfield during the Tomahawks' 2-1 Division I state semifinal loss to Concord on Tuesday night at Exeter.

EXETER – Hopes of an all-Nashua area state field hockey Division I final rode high this week.

Concord and Windham had other ideas.

The Tide, seeded No. 5, survived a furious second half from No. 8 Merrimack for a 2-1 decision in one state semifinal, and No. 2 Windham earned its second straight trip to the state title game with a 2-0 win over seventh-seeded Bishop Guertin with a 2-0 shutout

victory in the other here last night at

Exeter High School.

For Merrimack, it was the second straight time being turned away here in the semis. And this one wasn’t any easier.

“It’s a big night for (our players). It’s just so disappointing,” said Merrimack coach Ann MacLean. “Last year we were here. This year we really wanted it more. This year we had a vision to go further. It just didn’t work out that way.”

The Tomahawks took a while to get cooking but found themselves in the second half.

“There was just a lot of long ball the whole first half, and we weren’t used to it,” said MacLean. “In the second half we handled it a lot better. We definitely looked a

lot better.”

Down 1-0, though, the Tomahawks needed to show some resolve and located it in the form of Chloe Kapsambelis, who simply owned the offensive left wing.

Kapsambelis elated the Merrimack faithful with a power rush to the corner and then into the

scoring area, earning a penalty corner for her team with less than 19 minutes to play.

The junior then received the entry, faked shot and sent a crossing pass to Ellie Boucher, who fired at goal. In the scrum, off the rebound, Theresa Twardosky delivered the equalizer, tying things at 1-1.

But Concord had some fire, too. The 12-4 Tide took the lead six minutes later after Merrimack goalie Heather Rohr made the sprawling initial save.

Merrimack left all it had out there on the field, but Boucher’s final bid with under seven minutes to play was turned aside by Tide keeper Felicity Wheldon and that’s how things would end.

“I’m proud of the girls,” said MacLean, clearly disapointed with the result and the fact that she had to say goodbye to the the four-year starter in goal, Rohr, along with seniors Boucher, Demetria Gonzalez, Kaitlyn Cota and Megan Dinsmore.

“Every year is rebuilding, you just keep positive and go from there,” said MacLean. “(Rohr) has been a rock, all my seniors have been a rock for us.”

Merrimack finishes up at 10-7.

For Bishop Guertin, Tuesday night was all about running into an angry, driven opponent.

After winning back-to-back Division II state titles in 2016 and 2017, Windham High was a tad angry with its loss in the D-I title game a year ago.

“We have unfinished business left. That was our goal, our mission to set out after it,” said coach Katie Blair, whose Jaguars moved 15-1. “(Our seniors) have heart, grit and work ethic that you can’t teach.”

Still, the Cardinals earned a stalemate in a 0-0 first half.

Windham just seemed to wear BG down, scoring goals by Maddi O’Hare and Cameron Livingstone to advance to Saturday title game.

Coach Steve Duprat couldn’t be too disappointed. This is a Cardinals team that looked to be heading nowhere early in the year.

“With six games left, we’re 4-5, staring at the possibility of being left out of the tournament,” said Duprat. “Our girls persevered to get it together and get here today.

“Windham is a very skilled team. We have great athletes at BG. We have some very good field hockey players, but we don’t have a team of very good field hockey players like Windham does.”

And that showed last night as the Cards, who had ripped off seven straight wins to get here, finish at 11-6.

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