BY RYAN O’CONNOR

With just under 20 seconds left on the game clock, Bow and rival Hanover deadlocked at 16 goals apiece, Falcons junior Kiley Corson had only one thought as she prepared for a free shot.

“Oh, my gosh. I’m going to miss,” she admitted. “It was all on me.”

If Corson was nervous, it didn’t show.

She moved forward, aimed at the opposing goaltender’s weak side – Corson’s left, waist high – and planted the ball firmly in net, securing Bow’s second championship victory over Hanover in three years on June 6 at Memorial Field.

“I shot at the same spot earlier and scored, so I figured I’d aim at the same spot and try again,” said Corson.

Her coach, Chris Raabe, was impressed.

“At halftime, she was complaining that her shot was horrible, so it was nice to see her put one in at the end,” said Raabe. “That’s great placement, to put (the ball) at (the goalie’s) offside hip was perfect.”

Down at halftime, 11-8, after giving up the first four goals of the game, Bow came out after the break more like the team that went 12-1 on the season and less like the team that lost, 16-11, to Hanover on May 11.

“In the first half it was really frustrating because we had so much adrenaline that we couldn’t control it,” said sophomore Mackenzie Langsten, who led the second-half push after sitting most of the first half.

Bow scored the first seven goals of the second half, including four by Langsten and two by Corson, to take a 15-11 lead.

Hanover charged back to a 16-16 tie, leading up to Corson’s game winner.

Even Raabe admitted she was worried.

“I thought we were going into overtime,” she said.

But it was the coach’s motivational tactics with Langsten and her maneuvering of sophomore goaltender Leanna Shea – benched late in the first half in favor of freshman Erin Gail MacDonald, only to have Shea come back and shut Hanover down to begin the second half – that had the Falcons throwing their sticks in the air at game’s end.

“It was a little bit high scoring, but it was a great game,” said Raabe. “It was a shooting fest.”

Game notes

In addition to Corson’s three goals and three assists and Langsten’s four goals, senior Sherry Darrell netted four goals and classmate Briana Roberge added two more.

Also contributing in scoring were sophomores Alison Meagher, who had a goal and two assists, and Colby Jacobson, who had one goal.

Shea had eight saves, and MacDonald had two.