Bow girls lacrosse overcomes slow start, nerves to knock off Coe-Brown

BOW - Bow High School girls lacrosse coach Chris Raabe said her players entered Wednesday’s game against Coe-Brown Northwood Academy with some senior-day nerves.

It did not take the Falcons long to settle them.

Bow broke a 1-1 tie midway through the first half and never looked back en route to an 18-5 triumph over the Bears in its final regular-season home game.

Emma Gagne put the Falcons ahead, 2-1, with 13 minutes left in the opening half. The junior midfielder’s goal sparked a 7-1 run that gave Bow (10-2) an 8-2 halftime advantage.

Raabe said she noticed her players calm down early in the first half as they started to connect passes.

“The passes were better, they started looking for one another,” Raabe said. “We’ve been working a lot on drawing and dumping so when that started to click, I think their nerves went away and they felt better.”

Gagne was the catalyst of the Falcons’ dominance over the opening 25 minutes. She registered all of her five points (three goals, two assists) and helped Bow secure eight of 11 draw controls in the first half.

“She’s in the midfield and she’s drawing so she’s a big part of the midfield unit,” Raabe said of Gagne.

Bow forced running time when Zoe Jukoski scored with about 13:32 remaining to give her team a 13-3 lead. The junior’s goal came during an 8-1 Falcons run.

Raabe said her players used each other more and had better speed during the second half.

In addition to Gagne’s five-point game, Bow received a team-high four goals from Elizabeth Guertin and two each from Jukoski, Barrie Guertin, Charlotte Ulrich and Patricia Nordin. Dillon Hicks, Sarah Martin and Makayla Murray each scored once and Pinky Fleury made four saves for the Falcons. Gagne, Jukoski and Shannon Murray helped Bow win 16 of 25 draw controls.

The Falcons won the ground-ball battle, 29-15.

“We know they’re a physical team and we talked about that ahead of time and being ready for it and stuff,” Coe-Brown coach Mike Hyer said of the Falcons. “They’re a good program. They have been for years.”

Sophomore Kendall Nester recorded four goals, including her 50th of the season, and classmate Madison Tatem also scored for Coe-Brown (3-11) in the program’s final Division III game before moving to Division II next season. Maddie Swansburg, a senior, made 12 saves for the Bears. Nester and Isabelle Lupinacci combined to log nine draw controls.

Hyer said the Bears’ top five scorers this season were underclassmen, which makes him feel good about the program’s future.

“We’ve improved a lot this year,” Hyer said. “I’m at a spot now where I would just like to take a week off and start again because they’ve gotten to that point where they’re really ready to start taking the next kind of steps.”

With the Falcons two regular-season games away from the playoffs, Raabe said she is feeling good about her squad.

“It’s been a fun team. The team is great,” Raabe said. “The unity of the team is fabulous so we’ll see what happens come playoffs.”