> ## 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's McCarthy glad to have reached girls lacrosse milestone, has sight set on bigger prize
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/bedfords-mccarthy-glad-to-have-reached-girls-lacrosse-milestone-has-sight-set-on-bigger-prize/
- Published: 2019-05-23T18:03:18.000Z
- Updated: 2019-05-23T18:03:18.000Z
- Description: BEDFORD - Hannah McCarthy's record-setting goal came without fanfare. There was no stoppage of play, no roar from the crowd, no hugs or high-fives. Just a couple of stick taps, and McCarthy and her Bedford High School girls lacrosse teammates ran back toward midfield to get ready for the next draw.
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Bedford, girls lacrosse, Hannah McCarthy, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

BEDFORD - Hannah McCarthy's record-setting goal came without fanfare.

There was no stoppage of play, no roar from the crowd, no hugs or high-fives. Just a couple of stick taps, and McCarthy and her Bedford High School girls lacrosse teammates ran back toward midfield to get ready for the next draw.

In fact, there was no acknowledgement that anything out of the ordinary had happened during the Bulldogs' 15-9 win over Portsmouth on Monday until the game had ended and the two sides had shaken hands.

An announcement was made that McCarthy's final goal - her sixth of the day - was the 343rd of her four-year high school career, breaking the state record of 342\. That record was set in 2014 by Drew Shapiro, who also played for Bedford, and while McCarthy never had the chance to play with Shapiro, that record was something that was always at the back of mind.

"I always knew she was an amazing lacrosse player and I always looked up to her," said McCarthy, who was in seventh grade during Shapiro's senior year. "I didn’t know how many goals she actually had until I was in high school. It means a lot. I’ve been chasing it my whole high school career and it’s always been a goal."

That goal came into focus a little more as McCarthy got closer to high school. She started playing lacrosse in fourth grade, but in those early days, basketball was her main focus.

"I was actually a huge basketball person," she said. "I loved it more than I did lacrosse. It probably wasn’t until eighth grade that I started like (lacrosse) more. For me, it was just how close I was with those girls and how competitive we were at practice. I just didn’t get that in other sports."

The work that McCarthy put in as a youth players, first with the Bedford Cannons and later the New Hampshire Tomahawks, was noticed right away by Bulldogs coach Christine Hodgdon.

"She had a nose for the back of the goal," Hodgdon said. "She has the right size and the right build, she’s long, she’s lanky, any bad pass, she’s going to come up with it.

"Sophomore year is when we really saw the change of her becoming a real threat against any viable team. She really worked on her stick and her shooting over that summer prior to that sophomore year. It was really when we knew she was going to put up big numbers."

Those big numbers haven't always belonged to McCarthy.

During the second half of Monday's game, Portsmouth had someone face-guarding the Bedford senior at all times, which opened things up for the rest of her teammates. And when the Clippers had to adjust to that. McCarthy was able to reach the milestone with a couple of scores.

"All the time, we want to have balanced scoring," Hodgdon said. "Hannah is going to go on a run, but we need to make sure that everybody is a threat and we can’t have anybody standing around watching. The more defenders she draws, the more we have to be active to draw that threat off-ball."

When a team is shadowing her, McCarthy relays to her teammates to do one of two things.

"I usually just tell them to drive at me, because they’re not going to slide off me," she said. "When I get face-guarded, I say set picks for me or drive right at me. I just always try to cut at every opportunity and that’s how I get open so much. Honestly, it’s because my teammates look for me and feed the ball to me."

McCarthy, who will continue playing at Elon University in North Carolina, has one more regular-season game and at least one playoff game to continue to add to her record total. While she's happy to have her name in the record books, she knows someone will come along to beat it some day.

And even if they do, there's a bigger prize out there that McCarthy is hoping to have herself remembered.

"Now that I’ve past it, I’m glad we can start digging into the (playoffs) and having that be my main goal," she said. "Obviously, it means a lot, but I’d rather get a championship."

Bedford can wrapup the No. 2 seed in the Division I tournament with a win over Souhegan at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Win or lose, the Bulldogs will be hosting a quarterfinal game on May 29.