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MANCHESTER — A season that had Londonderry on the verge of the school’s first state soccer championship since 1999 ended so quickly last night it shocked the Lancers.
After tying the match with a second-half penalty kick, top-seeded Manchester Central sent second-seeded Londonderry home three minutes into the second overtime and on the wrong end of a 2-1 score in the Division 1 title game in front of 1,212 at Southern New Hampshire University.
“All our kids played their hearts out,” Londonderry coach Jeff Colbert said after Petro Masumbuko rerouted a corner kick that glanced off Lancer goalie Craig Foley for the game winner. “We really played it until the end. I think we’re kind of stunned. It caught us off guard in the corner.
“But I can’t say enough about my team’s effort throughout the season, and the fight they all brought. I know they’re going to be disappointed, but they should certainly keep their heads up because they had a phenomenal season. And tonight they proved they could play with the best.”
Entering the match having won five straight since a 1-1 tie against Central a month earlier and unbeaten in its past 11, Londonderry (16-2-1) controlled the pace in the first half.
“We were certainly trying to press the tempo,” said Colbert, whose club tied the Little Green, 1-1, on Oct. 18. “We’re a fast-paced team. (Central) can run as well, but we thought if we could press their defense, we could catch them off guard.”
The Lancers’ speed kept the unbeaten Little Green (18-0-1) on their heels and Londonderry grabbed the game’s first lead midway through the opening half. A long curling pass from sophomore Brian Greene set up a leaping Kenny Desmarais and the junior midfielder knocked a header inside the right post past goalie Colin Farrington.
Both teams ended up with 17 shots, but it was a penalty kick by Ramiro Osorio that proved the biggest. A tripping penalty against Londonderry eight minutes into the second half provided Osorio the opportunity to tie the match.
“The first half (the Lancers) were much quicker than we were,” Manchester Central coach Chris LaBerge said. “I think we were a little tired. We played a double OT game Monday night (in a 4-3 semifinal win over Concord). But as the game wore on and they got a little tired, I think we kind of matched their speed.”
For Londonderry, Rob Hart, Andre Simmond and Alex Hall each had four shots on goal while Greene and Desmarais both added two.
“I thought we created a lot of chances,” Colbert said. “They had a lot of opportunities. We just didn’t have as many go in as we would’ve liked.”
 

MANCHESTER — Brian Greene summed it up as well as anyone could have: “Andre was just trying to find someone. It just came into the back. I was right there and it went onto my head.”

The Londonderry boys soccer team brought its A game, not allowing a shot on net in a 2-0 win over Exeter in the Division 1 quarterfinals. Tom Beedham and Brian Greene scored for the 15-1-1 victors. The Lancers now wait on the winner of Thursday's Pinkerton-Merrimack game.

Nick Trefonides scored one goal and added an assist and Rob Hart netted two goals as Londonderry boys soccer won 3-1 over Nashua South yesterday to finish the regular season 14-1-1. 

In a battle befitting two of the top boys soccer teams in the Granite State this season, Londonderry and Manchester Central battled through two overtimes to a 1-1 draw. Rob Hart took a feed from Luke D'Urso to put the Lancers on top midway through the first half.

Londonderry gave up its first goal of the season yesterday but it had little bearing in a 6-1 soccer victory over Dover. Andre Simmond (two goals and an assist) stretched his goal scoring streak to three games as part of the Lancers' fourth straight commanding victory.

Andre Simmond erupted for three goals to lead Londonderry to a 9-0 drubbing of Spaulding. Matt Cooper added a goal and two assists.

Londonderry's defense stepped up in a 4-0 shutout of Manchester Memorial. Domminic Galluzzo, Tom Beedham and Matt Cooper did the job in front of goalie Craig Foley (five saves) to keep Memorial off the scoreboard.

Junior forward Rob Hart scored four times and assisted on another as Londonderry opened the season with a 7-0 rout over Nashua North. Matt Cooper, Alex Hall and Andrew Beliveau scored the other goals for the Lancers. Tim Trefonides and Andre Simond each had two goals.