Profile's Burger scores OT goal, denies Newmaket girls soccer a Division IV three-peat
MANCHESTER – In a physical matchup, the Profile High School girls soccer team struck the final blow.
The Patriots scored with 8:33 remaining in sudden-death overtime period in Sunday’s Division IV championship game, and defeated Newmarket High School, 3-2.
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The setback also denied the Mules a three-peat. Newmarket has reached the Division IV final six of the last seven years, winning the title in 2022 and 2021.
“I thought we played great,” said Newmarket coach Andrew Dawson. “Today was a battle. Just an absolute battle. Both teams competed. It was a very physical game, by far the most physical game we’ve played in all season. We’ve had some games that have gone right to the edge of the rules to the game, and this was definitely one of them.”
“The game was very physical,” said senior co-captain Morgan Boucher. “I think with any high-intensity game like this where you could possibly win a championship it’s going to be physical. I think it just comes with the territory.”
The clubs were tied 1-1 at halftime and 2-2 at the end of regulation. Profile’s Evie Burger scored her second goal of the game on a blistering shot from 20 yards out just under the crossbar to end it.
“I think overall we left everything we could’ve on the field and I’m really glad with the way we played,” Boucher said. “You can’t always win everything and today we learned that lesson as a team.”
Kaya Gobberstein and Jadynn Rajda scored for the Mules (17-1-1). Gobberstein’s goal came in the 16th minute when she beat the Profile keeper to a free ball and gave Newmarket a 1-0 lead. Profile’s Maya Brown tied it a little more than 10 minutes later on a header off a corner kick.
“You can’t ask for more than the effort that my team put in,” Dawson said. “I’m super proud of the way they battled. When you start getting into overtime and then you start looking at PKs on the horizon, that’s where it becomes anybody’s game.”
The Patriots went up 2-1 early in the second half and the Mules scored the equalizer with 14:39 left in regulation on Rajda’s goal. Newmarket outshot Profile, 10-8. Each team took five corner kicks.
“We gave as good as we got, I think,” Dawson said. “There was a pretty high foul rate in this game. I think Profile set a tone early on with a few well-placed hacks, some of which were called and some of which weren’t. It was one of those games where you had to grow into it, and we absolutely did that.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Profile beats Newmarket girls soccer in NHIAA Division IV championship
