Eagles have a date in the Final Four

Neither pouring rain or the No. 2 seed could keep the Kennett High field hockey team from an appearance in the Class I Final Four. The seventh seeded Eagles went on the road Friday afternoon and beat the second ranked Pride of Merrimack Valley 2-1 on their home field in Concord. The victory advances the girls from Conway to the semifinals where they'll face a familiar foe, No. 11 ranked Portsmouth, who has pulled off a pair of upset wins to get to this point in the tournament. The two schools split during the regular season with Kennett winning 2-0 at home in Sept., and the Clippers returning the favor 2-0 in Portsmouth earlier this month.Game time Tuesday is 7 p.m. on the astro turf at Bedford High School in Bedford."We split with them, there's no reason we can't beat them," Kelly Locke, Eagles' head coach, said, following Friday's thrilling win. "When they beat us we were in our funk, now we're playing our best."Locke said her troops stepped up to the challenge against Merrimack Valley. "We really had to work for this," she said. "The girls got damp and dirty and left everything they had on the field. I'm so proud of them all it's so exciting to be back in the Final four."... I've got to give Merrimack Valley a lot of credit, they're a good aggressive team and played a great game against us," Locke continued. "They hit the ball hard and forced my defense to work really hard in the beginning."The Pride held the advantage in penalty corners 10-5, but Kennett had the all important advantage on the scoreboard, but it was the hosts who struck first.With 17:30 left in the first half, Merrimack Valley scored following a scramble in front of the KHS goal. The Eagles didn't buckle and got back on level terms 90 seconds later. Kristina Drew found Kalin Billert with a pass in the goal circle and the talented junior made no mistake with her shot rocketing it into the back of the net for the equalizer."I took a timeout with 11 minutes left in the first half because I didn't think we were playing our style of game," Locke said. "We reassembled and from that point on played great."Kennett got what turned out to be the game-winner with 1:19 to play in the opening half. Off a penalty corner, Melanie Allen got the ball to Hillary Weber, who redirected the ball past a helpless Merrimack Valley goalie.The 2-1 scoreline help up in the pouring rain in the second half. The Pride tried to stage a late rally, but the KHS defense held strong. "With two minutes left, Lizzy (Weber) went down in the mud and somehow kept the ball out of the goal," Locke said. "She came up big every time we needed her to. ... In the first half she made a fantastic save on an eye level shot, getting her pad up in time to block it from going in the net. She was fantastic. The last couple of minutes were so nerve-wrecking because people were slipping and sliding all over the place due to the conditions. I'm just happy we were able to win and able to keep playing. You have no idea how much I love this team."