Souhegan's Ella Barrett, left, and Samantha Facques (11) lead the celebration after the Sabers edged Kennett 2-1 Friday in the Division II quarterfinals in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

AMHERST – Oh the frustration.

It would have been easy for the Souhegan High School girls field hockey team to lose out to that feeling in another tough Division II tournament battle with rival Kennett in the quarterfinals on Friday at Saber Field.

They were down 1-0, were robbed on a penalty stroke in the first half and had a the game tying goal an inch off the line in the third quarter.

What were the Sabers going to do in those final 15 minutes? Ella Barrett, who took that ill-fated shot in the first half, had the answer with two goals as No. 3 Souhegan advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals with a 2-1 win.

“As long as we could continue to get the good chances, it’s going to fall our way at some point,” said Sabers coach Kelli Braley said, saying the large crowd may have made her young, tourney inexperienced team nervous for the first half.

Barrett scored the first one on a bouncer that Eagles goalie Madison Walcott couldn’t reach with 12:03 left to tie the game. She then scored again, assisted by Karina Kruchynska with 8:59 left and it proved to be the game winner.

Poetic justice after Walcott robbed Barrett on a penalty stroke with 2:40 left in the first quarter.

“This is big for her, this is kind of a breakthrough, she’s been in a little bit of a drought,” Braley said, her team now 13-1-1. “The word got out about our bright pink-shoed player. She’s been marked pretty tightly all season, so it was nice to see her finally get some hard work paid off.”

The Sabers now head to Exeter’s Bill Ball Stadium on Tuesday at 5 p.m. for a semifinal date with No. 2 Portsmouth (14-1), whose only loss came at the hands of Souhegan 2-0 way back on Sept. 24.

For awhile though, it didn’t seem like fate was on Souhegan’s side. Kennett beat the previously unbeaten Sabers 2-0 in last year’s finals, but there weren’t too many players from either team around for this one.

Braley must have had that bad feeling again when Kennett’s Vivian Rober-Carpenter deflected a shot by Caroline Coleman that Saber goalie Annie Raduazzo couldn’t reach just four minutes in for a 1-0 Eagles lead. It was Kennett’s only shot on goal.

“I thought we had it, I thought we had it,” said Kennett coach Cassandra Johansen, whose team had survived an overtime shoot out with Souhegan in the prelims. “We knew it was going to be a crazy game. We didn’t have any offensive corners, that’s unheard of.

“The first half we were in our offensive end, the second half in our defensive end. (The Sabers) played well, they were tough. It was a great game, I hope they do well.”

“Halftime was talk about all that we’ve worked for, all we’ve earned for, we can’t go alone, we’ve got to go together,” Braley said. “You get to some high stakes with a team that’s ‘newish’ at this (tournament) level with only five returners on the field.

“Last year’s team might have had the grudge with Kennett, but this year’s team doesn’t, because it’s a lot of new bodies, a lot of new people who weren’t there in championship last year. So we had to write our own story.”

At least this one had a happy ending.

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