With assist from Kinter, Clippers prevail

LYNN - It took Jillian Kinter 99 minutes, but the Newburyport senior picked up where she had left off.

With just 22 seconds remaining in the second overtime, Kinter, who scored both of Newburyport's goals in a 2-1 win over Bedford Sunday in the Division 3 North final, found an open Hannah McCormick 10 yards in front of the goal. McCormick's shot soared over the fingertips of Cohasset goalie Johanna Brophy and into the top right corner for a 1-0 win in the Division 3 EMass final last night at Manning Field.

Newburyport will meet Monson in Saturday's championship.

"I was honestly expecting it to go to penalty kicks," McCormick said. "But I saw a brief opportunity and I didn't even realize I was wide open and then I looked around. I am not the best shooter, so I think I just got lucky on this one."

Kinter, who was double- and triple-teamed all game, was able to sneak a pass to McCormick, who was wide open as a result of the focus on Kinter.

"She had just come in a couple minutes before that," Kinter said. "No time on the clock, I just picked my head up and she was making a perfect run. So I put the ball to the space and she got that shot off perfectly."

McCormick started the game, but was having trouble hitting targets, said coach Bob Gonnam. She was replaced with Shawn Crifo, but reentered near the end of the second overtime.

"We had three or four kids who have been really sick and that was all we had," Gonnam said. "That was the only option. [McCormick] is a backfield player so I put her in at midfield and said, 'just keep going. Just keep running.' "

Kinter nearly ended the game with just under seven minutes left in the first overtime but her shot hit the post at the top right corner and bounced away. The Clippers, who improved to 19-2-2, played most of the game without Taylor Bresnahan, who hurt her left knee with five minutes left in the first half and didn't return.

"She is demanding and she puts forth the effort herself and expects everyone else to," Gonnam said. "So that's a hit when you lose her."

Stellar play from defender/midfielder Veronica Poirier and Lindsey Tomasz, who finished with 13 saves, helped keep the Skippers (17-4-3) off the board.

"I thought she was fabulous," Gonnam said of his keeper. "She made some nice saves, she read the plays really well. That was her best game of the year."

The game was extremely physical from the start. With both teams pushing and shoving, the officials gave out a yellow card early in the second overtime.

"It was a little bit of a nasty game," Gonnam said. "I was surprised there weren't more calls. You do a couple of those early on and the game settles down. They really should have. It was both ways, we made some cheap hits and so did they, and you really don't want to see that in this kind of game. It's too important."