Final Exams: Two Milford teams, Campbell and HB vie for titles
The high school tournaments are winding down.
Three of the area’s best soccer teams will be vying for state titles tonight at Exeter’s Bill Ball Stadium, and there’s one girls volleyball team left playing Saturday.
The Hollis Brookline girls soccer team, winners of 37 in a row, will go for a second straight 19-0 championship season when the top seeded Cavaliers renew their tourney rivalry with No. 2 Bow (15-3-1) at 5 p.m. at Exeter’s Bill Ball Stadium, the first game of a tourney doubleheader.
In the nightcap, it’s an all local Division II boys final at 7:15 with No. 1 Campbell (16-1-1) facing No. 3 Milford (14-2-2) fo r the third time this season. The teams split in the regular season, the Spartans handing the Cougars their lone loss.
Then on Saturday, you can head to Derry to catch the Division II girls volleyball championship with No. 3 Milford (17-2) squaring off against unbeaten (19-0) No. 1 Somersworth. The two teams did not play in the regular season.
There will be talent on hand in the soccer, as three of the area’s premier players – HB’s McKenna Maguire, Milford’s Avery Wilson and Campbell’s Luke Delia will be competing.
In the girls game, the Cavs certainly have had their hands full with Bow in th postseason over the years. They lost in OT to the Falcons three years ago in the semis, then last year beat them 1-0 in penalty kicks in the semis. The last time the Cavs lost a game was two years ago in the Division II semis, also in OT, vs. Pelham.
“They (Bow) will play well, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do something we’ll have to adjust to,” HB coach Peter Clarke said. “With this team we trust them to figure it out and sort it out, and they do. When one tactic is taken away they figure out another way.”
In the boys final, the Cougars are no stranger to title games as they won the Division III crown a year ago, then moved up a division. Milford,meanwhile, will be playing in its first championship game.
“They’ve fought all year and have battled all year and we’re just hitting our stride now,” Spartans coach Anson Thibault said. “We’re playing hard and they’re playing for each other. We’re just excited. This is a great group of kids and they’e earned it.”
While the Cougars will have to handle Wilson, a converted goalie who has 53 career goals, Milford will try to stop Delia, who always scores a game’s biggest goal, it seems, and at the right time. He won the Division III title with a goal in the final three minutes and had two goals in the Cougars’ semifinal win the other night.
For Campbell, it’s a new division and new coach as well, as Dan Dufourny has guided the team to yet another final, it’s third in the last six years.
“We had a couple of big wins early that raised expectations,” Dufourny said after the semis win over Lebanon. “They’ve been really focused since the playoffs started.”
Finally on Saturday, the Spartan volleyballers are set to take on a tough Hilltoppers team. Milford will be in its first final since 2021, seeking its first title.
The Spartans are led by seniors such as Abigail Krulis and Emma Desrochers, but they have depth in scoring. They had a knockdown, drag out five-set fight with Coe-Brown in the semis.
“No matter what on Saturday,” Milford coach Haley Patch said, “I just know it’s going to be a great game.”
(Telegraph Correspondent Dan Doyon contributed to this report.)