> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Bedford girls lacrosse slips past Hanover to reach D2 final for first time - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/bedford-girls-lacrosse-slips-past-hanover-to-reach-d2-final-for-first-time/ - Published: 2014-06-08T12:30:12.000Z - Updated: 2014-06-08T12:30:12.000Z - Description: MANCHESTER - The Bedford High School girls lacrosse team has been close to making the Division II championship game before. - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Division II, Spring Sports, Bedford, girls lacrosse, Hanover, playoffs, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 ![Bedford's Drew Shapiro tries to run past Hanover's Madeline Lyons during Saturday's Division II semifinal.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/jmbedhanlax060714-b20-1.jpg) Bedford's Drew Shapiro tries to run past Hanover's Madeline Lyons during Saturday's Division II semifinal. MANCHESTER - The Bedford High School girls lacrosse team has been close to making the Division II championship game before. Saturday was the final chance for this year's seniors to get over the hump, and with a little more than two minutes remaining in the semifinals against No. 2 Hanover, it didn't look good for the No. 3 Bulldogs. Bedford trailed 13-12 and with 2:38 left in the game, Meghan Lussier received a yellow card, putting the Bulldogs down a player for two minutes. ![Bedford's Ashley Maddox makes a save on a shot by Hanover's Johanna Copeland.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/jmbedhanlax060714-b23-1.jpg) Bedford's Ashley Maddox makes a save on a shot by Hanover's Johanna Copeland. Instead of panicking, Bedford kept fighting, forcing a turnover that led to the game-tying goal by Drew Shapiro. Hanover won the draw, but turned the ball over again, and with both sides even, Shapiro scored with 33.8 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 14-13 victory at Southern New Hampshire University's Larkin Field. The win sends Bedford to the championship game for the first time in program history, where it will face No. 1 Windham, an 11-10 winner over No. 4 Winnacunnet in the other semifinal. "I can't even describe it with words," said Shapiro, who is one of seven seniors. We've been to the semifinals for the past three years and we've lost in this game. Being a senior and being here, to finally win it, it's indescribable." When the seniors were freshmen, they were blown out by Merrimack, and the next year, they blew a three-goal lead with under five minutes to play to lose to Merrimack again, this time by one. Last season, it was a one-goal defeat against Portsmouth that ended Bedford's season. "This is our fourth trip, so for them, they needed to get over that hump," Bedford coach Christine Hodgdon said. "I knew it was going to be close. It was hard to anticipate and expect, but if we played our game, and they played their game, it was going to be close." The teams had played just two weeks ago, with Hanover winning 14-13, as the Marauders slowed the game down after getting the lead in the second half. This time, when Hanover went ahead and tried to stall, the Bulldogs were more aggressive than they had been the last time. "Typically, that's our style anyway (to bring pressure), but we knew we had to prepare because we knew they liked to slow the ball down and throw it around and then attack," Hodgdon said. "We tried to create the tempo rather than let them have that advantage." The Marauders (16-4) had tried to run the clock, but weren't successful. "We were trying to hold the ball," Hanover coach Chris Seibel said. "We went to the wrong area and we should have gone out to the perimeter. Bedford is just a very good team and they pressured really well." ![Bedford's Kristen Barnett and Hanover's JJ Daniell battle for the ball.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/jmbedhanlax060714-b9h3-1.jpg) Bedford's Kristen Barnett and Hanover's JJ Daniell battle for the ball. The teams went back and forth throughout the first half. Bedford went ahead 4-2 before Hanover scored four straight goals to go up 6-4\. Then the Bulldogs answered, going on a 4-0 run of their own to lead 8-6 at halftime, but the Marauders opened the second half with three straight goals to go back ahead 9-8. The game was tied six times in the second half and the lead changed four times. Shapiro led Bedford with six goals while Makayla Sterling had three and Kristen Barnett added two. Kelsey Linehan, Kennedy Boyle and Sawyer Biron had one goal apiece. Hannah Seibel had four goals for Hanover and JJ Daniell and Rachel Boghosian had three each. Emily Gougelet made 11 saves, including several in the first half on free position shots. But in the second half, Bedford was able to take advantage of those opportunities, including one by Linehan with 7:45 to play that put the Bulldogs up 12-11\. Hanover's Madeline Lyons was given a yellow card right before the goal, but the Marauders were able to kill off the rest of the advantage. Hannah Seibel scored on a free position of her own with 5:26 to play to tie it at 12, and she added another goal 1:22 to put Hanover up 13-12\. The yellow card on Lussier appeared to spell the end for the Bulldogs, but Shapiro had other ideas. "It's pretty easy to get down on yourself in that situation," she said. "You have to know how much you want it and I know we've wanted this for so long." Bedford will have to wait a little longer for that shot, as the Bulldogs will face Windham in the title game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at SNHU. Windham advanced thanks to a big second half from Melissa Cino and Ali Connors. The pair combined to score six of their seven goals after halftime, as the Jaguars (15-2) outscored Winnacunnet 6-3 in the second half. Cino finished with four goals, as did Courtney Sweeney, while Connors had three scores. Winnacunnet (13-4) got four goals from Kelly Dolan and two each from Megan Chase and Meg Dzialo.