NEWPORT–The North Country Falcons were back on their home field on Monday afternoon, squaring off against the Harwood Highlanders.
The Falcons played a solid game, generating more chances in the offensive third of the field than the Highlanders, but this would be a game for the goalies.
Early on it was Harwood’s Camille Edgcomb coming up very big, as she was able to shut down the Falcons on multiple chances near her cage.
For North Country, Lyla Hardin wasn’t super busy, but when she was called upon to make a save, she did, especially in the overtime, when she made an outstanding kick save with her right leg then, scrambled to her left to stop the ensuing rebound.
When the final horn sounded the scoreboard remained unchanged, and the two teams settled for the 0-0 tie.
As the action got underway, things were relatively quiet.
Eva Bury sent a shot wide, then Harwood put one goal that Hardin kicked aside.
As quarter number one progressed, the offensive chances started to come for the Falcons.
Marina Cote fired a shot that made it into the circle, but nothing came of it.
Rosy Carvalho got in close but couldn’t put the ball past Edgcomb, then Lillie Tetreault had a couple of looks.
In the final minutes of the quarter Harwood made a push, but nothing came of it.
Eva sent another shot wide, then the Falcons got a late corner, but again nothing would come of it, and after one quarter it was 0-0.
Harwood carried the play in the early moments of the second quarter, getting multiple corners which resulted in a shot on goal by Maisy Gendimenico that was turned aside.
The Falcons responded with Cote and Carvalho creating a corner for NCU, but Edgcomb kept the ball out of the cage.
North Country kept up the pressure, with Tetreault jumping in on the action along with Marina and Rosy, but again the Harwood defense and their keeper kept the Falcons off the board.
As the clock ticked closer to halftime, the shots on goal continued to pile up, with Eva, Lillie, Rosy, Marina, and Jocelyn Allen all getting cracks at putting the Falcons on the board, but alas, the ball stayed out of the goal, and it was still scoreless at the half.
The pace of play slowed a bit coming out of the break, but the Falcons still got a few looks, including a sequence that started with Anna Bury getting off a shot with several corners in a row following, but still nothing to show on the board.
In the fourth, with North Country still pressing and 3:44 left on the clock, their coach, Katie Bogart, called a timeout to discuss their approach for the final minutes of the game.
When play resumed Tetreault nearly ended it with a beauty of a shot, but it missed just wide, and it was off to 7-on-7 overtime.
This would be when Hardin’s light shone brightest, a she absolutely stonewalled Jane Schaefer with the aforementioned saves, and that would be all she wrote.
Lyla finished the game with 5 saves, while Camille stopped 13.
Now standing at 3-3-2, the Falcons will head out on the road on Friday to take on Milton.
Game time is set for 4:30.