After rough start, Nashua South boys lacrosse put it together for run to D1 playoffs

When the Nashua High School South boys lacrosse reconvened after spring break, things didn't look good for the Panthers.

Already with a bigger number of young players on offense, South had also lost one of its captains, midfielder Sean Holland, to an injury in the first half of the first game of the season.

The result wasn't good, as the Panthers started the year with six losses in their first seven games. But perhaps the worst part of it was how few goals South was scoring.

Through those seven games, the Panthers were averaging just 5.6 goals per game and scored more than six goals just once.

But things started to turn around in South's next game, a 17-4 win over Manchester Central. It was the first of three straight games in which the Panthers would score 13 goals or more, and the start of a stretch of seven wins in nine games.

For a team that was sitting at the bottom of the Division I standings, the run propelled South (9-8) into the playoffs, where as the seventh seed, it will face No. 2 Pinkerton (16-2) on Saturday at noon.

"If you saw us the first few games, you wouldn’t recognize us," South coach Bill Monsen said. "I think our defense has gelled, but most of all, our offense has grown in confidence."

Holland's injury left fellow senior captain Devin Linscott as the only upperclassman on the offense for South, and with younger players trying to figure their way around, the Panthers struggled. But despite their challenges, they tried to keep a positive attitude.

"If anyone had their head down, we’d go talk to them," Linscott said. "We all just stuck together. We didn’t know what was going to happen with (Sean). We just kept grinding. We knew what we had to do."

Tyler Bernard, a senior who had been a defensive middie, started to stay on the field and play on offense, turning into one of the team's top threats. But the development of some younger players - sophomores Joe Bodi and Joe Buturla and freshmen Drew Fleury and Jaden Murphy - took the Panthers to another level.

"The younger guys, they stepped it up," Linscott said. "They’re still learning. Joe, Drew, they’re playing like they’re older and they’ve really stepped up. Without them, it really wouldn’t be able to work.

"I got frustrated sometimes, but they are both playing older. We put that pressure on them because we had that on us when we were younger. It all came together. We just went on a run and now we’re playing in playoffs."

Holland had frustration of his own, as the injury lingered, and what was at first thought to be minor ended up keeping him out until late in the season. He tried to do as much as he could from the sideline.

"Being on the sideline, there’s only so much you can do," he said. "I tried to tell them, especially the younger guys, stuff I was seeing, if I saw a certain look or if it was a certain situation I’d been in in the past. I played as a sophomore and a freshman, I know what they’re going through. You’re playing against older guys. You’ve got to learn the varsity ways."

Learn they did, although according to Monsen, they didn't have much of a choice.

"I think it was out of necessity," he said. "It was sink-or-swim mentality, they were in a hole and they had to fight their way out of it. I think experience and learning that there was no body who was going to save them."

Regardless of the outcome of Saturday's playoff game, being able to get in gave the boost to the program, giving all of the Panthers' underclassmen a chance to have a few more practices.

And getting a few more days on the practice field was something seniors wanted as well.

"It’s awesome for me because I feel like I already missed too many practices to begin with," Holland said. "It will be big. During the season, you’re playing every two or three days, so it’ll be good to have a break and figure out what we need to work on. Focus on your opponent, more like a football week.

"It’s awesome for the program, to show it can go through some adversity. To come back from that, it’s something the young guys can carry throughout their careers."