Defense did the trick for Portsmouth girls lacrosse in championship win

There where times during the Division II girls lacrosse final between Portsmouth and Winnacunnet high schools when it was hard to tell who had the lead.

If it wasn't for the scoreboard, it might have often looked like the Warriors were just trying to take time off the clock.

In reality, Winnacunnet was trying to find a way to get to the goal, a task that often times proved impossible against Portsmouth's impenetrable defense.

"It almost looked like they were stalling because we were able to keep them out so long," Portsmouth coach Mary Squire said. "They've got a potent offense, some great ballhandlers, and we just our held our ground and our goalie played out of her mind."

Grace Jackson finished with nine saves in the Clippers' 13-8 win, and her solid play, plus that of the defense around her, limited the Warriors to four goals in each half and 2 for 10 on free-position shots. It was just the third time this season Winnacunnet was held under 10 goals, with the other times coming against Portsmouth in the regular season and in the semifinals against Hanover.

"Our defense was amazing," Portsmouth senior Grace Getman said. "That's been our focus this year. We did a great job marking cutters and shutting down their plays. We played together, which was nice, helping each other out."

The eight goals scored by the Warriors was the third-highest total given up by Portsmouth (19-2) this year, as the Clippers allowed double digit goals in both of their losses.

Part of Portsmouth's success was holding Winnacunnet's Meghan Dzialo to just one goal, which came in the second half with the Clippers up 11-5.

"Meg continued to work hard, she just wasn't able to get open," Winnacunnet coach Michaela Hardy-Lemire said. "The other team was playing good defense on her, knowing that she is one of the top scorers. They were taking away her slides."

Portsmouth led by as many as five in the first half and took an 8-4 lead into the break, where Squire said the message to the team was to not allow Winnacunnet to get it's offense going.

"Halftime, that was a big talking point, that we don't let them get into a rhythm and don't let them get back in the game," the coach said. "That just all started from the defensive side of the ball. The defense just hung in there.

"It's just communication with that back seven and them feeding off each other. They were locked in about where they wanted to be throughout the course of the season. They just got in their comfort zones out there. The communication and the shifts, they were just doing a great job."

A year after coming up short in the final on a last-second shot, Portsmouth built up a seven-goal lead in the second half to take away any chance at another heartbreak.

"I'm so happy that we had another opportunity to be back here," Getman said. "Last year was a tough one. None of us were going to let that happen again. We worked for it last year and fell short. We worked all this season and we just knew this was our time to get that back."