Goffstown girls soccer head coach Eric Romein vowed not to appear upset following a team loss, but after a recent setback to visiting Nashua South, that promise was in trouble.

Despite building a 2-0 lead midway through the second half, Goffstown allowed the Panthers to even the score in regulation en route to a 3-2 win in the second overtime period on Friday, Sept. 25.

“We didn’t give up, but we certainly didn’t want to challenge them and go hard after the ball late in the game,” said Romein. “They flat out wanted it more than us.”

Romein has been the team’s head coach for eight years, and after taking two seasons off, he said he has tried to remain positive despite the team’s slow start.

The Grizzlies dropped to 2-6-0, while South spiked its record to 5-3-0. Emily Ellis continued her strong season when she took a loose ball, carried it into the box and scored to give Goffstown a 1-0 edge with 19:11 remaining in the first half.

Ellis tallied her seventh tally and has provided the vast majority of the team’s 11 goals. The junior scored five times during the preseason as well.

It didn’t take long following the halftime break for Goffstown to add to its lead. Michelle Beaulieu found the vacated bottom left-hand corner of the net on a breakaway little more than two minutes after intermission. Romein praised Beaulieu, a senior forward, and Andye Foley, a senior midfielder, as leaders for GHS on and off the field the last three years.

Nashua South cut the lead in half with 25 minutes remaining in regulation, though the Grizzlies still appeared in control. But with 4:01 left, a high-arcing Panther shot from 35 yards out found the upper corner of the net, past the reach of goalie Kayla Dennison, to knot the score at 2-2.

In overtime, neither squad broke through in the first 10 minutes, but with 3:44 remaining the game ended following a shot from just outside the box that went largely unchallenged.

“Maybe not having been in this kind of situation before hurt us,” said Romein. “Hopefully they were able to learn from it, and in learning it won’t happen again.”