Nashua North goalie Yazid Poolakal made several key saves down the stretch in the Titans' 1-0 tourney upset of Concord on Tuesday. (File ;photo courtesy of Nashua Huddle)

We all should have listened.

Nashua High School North boys soccer coach Josh Downing said a week before the Division I tournament started he felt his team was capable of beating anybody, even though it had lost three of its last four games to end the regular season.

Downing was right, as the No. 12 Titans stunned No. 5 Concord, 1-0, at Laconia’s Bank of New Hampshire Stadium on Tuesday n Division I’s preliminary round. The Titans (8-9) will now play the winner of today’s game between No. 13 Portsmouth and No. 3 Manchester Memorial on Friday in the quarterfinals.

“We made a few changes, and we executed well,” said Downing.

The area almost had a second upset but No. 14 Alvirne fell to No. 3 Hanover, 2-1 in double overtime. In Division II, Souhegan was eliminated by Coe-Brown Northwood, 2-0.

North’s goal came in the first seven minutes off foot of Guarav Maharjan, assisted by Caua De Freitas. Meanwhile, defensively, the Titans survived a second half flurry by the Tide (10-5-2), who had pressure for a 10 minute stretch from 62 minutes in to the 72nd minute, with keeper Yazid Poolakal playing well to preserve the shutout.

“Yazid played great in net, great play all around,” Downing said. “They had pressure, sure, but they were down and sending everyone. Yazid made some great saves and our team played very well defensively.”

The Titans might have had an easier time of it had they not hit the post a couple of times offensively as well.

If Memorial wins today, Friday’s game will be in Manchester. If the Clippers pull off the upset, North will host Portsmouth. Nashua South is also a home team on Friday, hosting the winner of Exeter at Windham today at 2 p.m. at Presentation of Mary in Hudson. The Exeter-Windham game was rescheduled from today.

NO. 3 HANOVER 2,

NO. 14 ALVIRNE 1 (2 OT)

This was a heartbreaker for the visiting Broncos, who finished up the season at 6-10-1 after Hanover’s Jack Gardner forced overtime with just 15 seconds left in regulation and then the Marauders won it on Jacob Kubik-Paw’s goal a minute into the second OT.

The Broncos thought they had it won when Jack Ashworth broke a scoreless tie with about five minutes left in regulation. They had missed another golden opportunity about five minutes earlier, when Kaven Fitch drilled a penalty kick over the crossbar.

Hanover (13-3-1) will host the winner of today’s Londonderry-Pinkerton prelim on Friday in the quarters.

DIVISON II

NO. 5 COE-BROWN 2,

NO. 12 SOUHEGAN 0

Marty Lacerte (21 minutes in) and Sam Lapiejko (32 minutes) scored for CBN, despite difficult footing in the penalty area.

Souhegan had a golden opportunity to score in the 24th minute but Bears keeper Waylon Walker made the slippery save but the Sabers couldn’t pounce on the rebound quick enough to get on the board.

Ryan Lockitt had nine saves for Souhegan, which put some more pressure late on Walker (five saves) but came up empty. The Sabers finished up at 6-11.

“The mountain was too tall on this day,” Sabers coach Dave Saxe said. “Playoff qualification, and competing well were some of the goals set by this squad. Time now to decompress after reaching those goals.”

The Bears ruined a possible all-local quarterfinal, as they now head to Hollis on Friday to face No. 4 Hollis Brookline at 3 p.m. The Cavs beat the Bears 2-1 back on Sept. 2.

FIELD HOCKEY POSTPONED

The Division II field hockey semifinals at Exeter, originally scheduled for Tuesday, were postponed until Friday at Exeter, same times. Souhegan will take on Portsmouth that day at 5 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium.

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