Campbell forward Amelia LaPlante (7) fights for possession of the ball against Raymond's Dinkenesh Levesque. The Cougars and Rams were locked in a defensive battle for more than 80 minutes, but Raymond scored two minutes into overtime to win Tuesday night's semifinal match, 1-0. (Photo by Dan Doyon)

BEDFORD – A playoff match between two of the most prolific attacks in the division became a defensive battle. It took more than 80 minutes, but Raymond senior forward Gianna Gott’s shot found the back of the net off a deflection just 2:05 into overtime, lifting the No. 2 Rams to a 1-0 victory over the No. 3 Campbell Cougars in Tuesday night’s Division III girls’ soccer semifinal at Bedford High School.

“An own goal, that’s a hard way to go out,” Campbell head coach Allen Lajoie said. “We lost to them, but it was a great contest. It just wasn’t our day.”

Undefeated Raymond (19-0) handed Campbell (16-2) its only loss of the regular season, 4-2, in Raymond on Oct. 14. The Cougars led 2-0 at halftime, but allowed four unanswered goals in the loss. Both teams tallied eight goals each in the playoffs between their preliminary and quarterfinal wins, but Lajoie knew Tuesday night would be different.

“We didn’t adjust well (previously),” Lajoie said. “Today, we did all the way to the end, just bad luck. I thought it would be lower scoring. We changed, defensively, how we were going to play them. We moved some girls to different positions and they adapted really well.”

Raymond will play No. 1 Stevens (19-0) in Saturday’s D-III championship game. Yesterday the Rams maintained possession for long stretches and were able to make deep runs with some nice combinations, through balls and give and gos, but couldn’t find the final touch in the 18-yard box.

Two-time All-State defender, junior Lilli Wilson, and fellow junior Katie Fluet, were outstanding in the back, disrupting the Rams’ attack and not letting them get too many direct shots on target.

The Cougars were able to clear the ball well and their forwards were able to get some possession, but Campbell didn’t have enough numbers forward to sustain much possession.

Raymond freshman Kylie Carr struck a knuckler from 30 yards out that Campbell’s sophomore goalkeeper Zoe Bourque (six saves) punched away in the 30th minute. In the 49th, Rams senior Dinkenesh Levesque won the ball and sent it to the net. Bourque bobbled the save, but was able to pounce on it before Gott could get a boot on it. Sophomore Isabella Gott just missed the far post in the 57th minute and Carr sent a through ball into the box in the 62nd that would’ve set up her teammate for a point-blank attempt on goal if Campbell sophomore midfielder Ashlyn Asara hadn’t come flying back to knock it away.

Bourque made four of her saves in the second half, while Raymond’s sophomore goalie Mikaela Noyes made her only save – an attempt from Campbell junior forward Amelia LaPlante – with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.

“They did a great job. They keyed on (LaPlante),” Lajoie said. “They had a game plan of shutting her down, we just didn’t adapt.”

While 80 minutes yielded no goals on the scoreboard, it only took two minutes for Raymond to score the game-winner in extra time, attacking Campbell’s left flank to get the ball inside the 18 and Gott’s shot deflecting past Bourque.

It was another painful exit for the Cougars, who were eliminated by shootouts in the tournament the past two seasons. Campbell only graduates two seniors – forward Alyssa Riel and defender Maddie Cuvellier – and return several sophomores and juniors who are multi-year starters and have plenty of experience in big games.

“They’re adept at playing a long game and don’t crack under the pressure,” Lajoie said. “I was hoping, I was praying for a shootout. (Raymond) did a great job. Hats off to them.”

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