MANCHESTER — It seemed almost certain that the Division IV boys soccer title game would need overtime to determine the 2011 champion.

With less than two minutes left and the game tied at one, there was little chance that either Wilton-Lyndeborough or Sunapee would score.

Then it happened.

WLC senior Adam Edmunds’ header got past Sunapee goalie TJ Walcholtz and eventually bounced over the end line with 1:21 remaining for a 2-1 victory and a second straight DIV championship.

“Out of the corner of my eye I saw the goalie’s yellow jersey coming closer and closer, so I knew there was no way I was going to get it on my foot, said Edmunds. “So I had to just flick it with my head and then there was nothing more I could do except watch it roll slowly into the goal.”

Edmunds had scored his fair share of big time goals during his four-year high school career, but nothing will ever compare to his final tally in a WLC uniform.

“Best way to go out as a senior,” said Edmunds. “I’m glad we got to go out like that.”

Sunday’s title contest was exactly what the final game of the year should be like. Yet while it seemed destined for overtime, Edmunds made sure there was no need to play a second more than the 80 minutes of regulation.

Edmunds made one of his signature runs, despite being blanketed by a pair of defenders, to track down a high bouncing ball from sophomore Mark Davidson and head it past a charging Walcholtz.

“Adam just didn’t give up. He just wanted the ball,” coach Steve Martus said. “I didn’t expect him to get it in, but with Adam, you really have to. He’s just relentless.”

From there, the Warriors were able to waste the final 81 seconds to win a second straight title, the first Division IV program to do so since Woodsville won in 2004 and 2005.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” said senior Marshal Davidson. “We’ve been a part of four school soccer championships, two in middle school and two as a junior and senior. We have three trips to the final four in high school and our senior class has a final record of 81-11-4 for all six years.”

Like the 2010 title contest, WLC was able to score early and gain a quick advantage.

It wasn’t quite as early as last year’s second-minute tally, but with just nine minutes gone by Marshal Davidson put the Warriors up 1-0. Edmunds had fired one in from the corner, but Walcholtz could only get a piece of it and Davidson was there to knock in the rebound.
“I knew that one goal wouldn’t be enough,” said Edmunds. “We just kept pushing and pushing and it eventually worked.”

WLC controlled the rest of the half and goalie Connor Melrose was relatively untested. That all changed though in the 10th minute of the second half when Sunapee’s Troy Fowler blasted one from just beyond the penalty area to tie the game at one.

Despite a few good chances to regain the lead, the score remained tied until Edmunds’ header.

It’s hard enough to win one state championship and even more difficult to repeat. Just ask the Warriors.

With a multitude of players hurt and inconsistent play, WLC had a hard time getting things going early on.

“We had a lot of injuries early on, but I thought we’d get through it,” Davidson said. “We just knew we had to work hard.”

While they only lost two players from the team that defeated Derryfield in the championship game a year ago, it didn’t look that way through the first couple weeks of the season. The departure of goalie Keith Bujak meant that Marshal Davidson would move from center midfield to net.

But not having him on the field left a huge gap to fill and one that never really was until Davidson returned to his more natural position and Melrose went into net during a Sept. 14 loss to Pittsfield.

“We just couldn’t fill that center mid position,” said Martus. “The turning point I think was when we moved Marshal from goal onto the field again.”

Following the move, the Warriors only lost twice more the rest of the season, one coming against top seeded Profile and the other to Sunapee on Oct. 12.
Even with an 11-4-1 record, which included a mark of 7-1-1 in the final nine games, WLC had to settle for the seventh seed in DIV.

But when it came tournament time, the record and seed didn’t seem to matter. The Warriors were healthy and playing good soccer at the right time.

“Going into the playoffs, we had everyone healthy except for Cam [Holt] and we knew he wasn’t coming back,” Martus said.

They cruised past Gorham in the first round with a season high seven goals and then traveled to second seed Lisbon for the quarterfinals.

The last two playoff meetings with Lisbon ended in heart wrenching defeats, but this time it was the Warriors coming out on top, 3-1.

WLC needed overtime to knock off No. 6 Littleton 2-1. The Crusaders scored with two seconds left in regulation to force extra time, but the Warriors came up with the game winner 10 minutes later.

And with Sunapee waiting in the finals, they were very comfortable with the match-up. WLC had already played the Lakers twice, splitting the season series although it should have been a sweep.

The Warriors dominated the first meeting in the season opener 4-1 and then led on two occasions in the rematch, including 2-1 at the half, only to allow a pair of goals over the final 40 minutes to lose.

After the loss, WLC won its final three regular season games, all by shutout.
The Warriors will be on the rebuilding side of things next year as they lose eight seniors, including its entire core up the middle with defender Willie Tremblay, center midfielders Davidson and Stephan Taliadoros and Edmunds and Taylor Roche up front.