Derryfield boys lacrosse holds off Winnacunnet rally to win opener (video)

MANCHESTER - Both Chris Hettler and Pat Snow had questions about their groups heading into Tuesday's season opener between the Derryfield School and Winnacunnet High School boys lacrosse teams.

While the Cougars were able to hold off a second-half rally by the Warriors for a 9-6 victory, both coaches got plenty of answers.

Derryfield (No. 5 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) scored seven unanswered goals in the first half to take a 7-1 lead into the break, but Winnacunnet (ARV) opened the third quarter with a 4-0 run to get within two. The teams traded goals early in the fourth quarter to keep it a close game before the Cougars added another goal in the final minute to close things out.

"Happy with the way we came out," Hettler said of Derryfield. "We looked crisp. I thought we executed well, the defense was playing really well. Little things we’ve got to clean up in the defensive end, but we have some new guys out there. They’re talented and I thought they held up really well 6-on-6. It was transition, mandown, stuff you just need more experience playing out there.

"As much as I didn’t want to play a huge game like this at the beginning of the season, it’s a great opportunity for the kids to get some experience to learn and deal with pressure. We had to dig down in the fourth quarter and they responded really well."

Alex Murray led the Cougars with three goals and two assists, including a manup goal with just under 10 minutes to play in the game that put Derryfield up 8-5. Kyle Tilley answered that score for Winnacunnet just 1:23 later, getting a goal in transition that got it back to a two-goal game.

The Warriors had the opportunity to get closer less than a minute after that, with Derryfield's Tyler Lautieri off for a minute for a slash. Winnacunnet had already scored on a manup earlier in the half, but despite keeping possession for more than two minutes, the Warriors couldn't capitalize.

"It wasn’t a lack of opportunity," Snow said. "We had a hard time hitting the frame of the net. We shot a ton of shots, especially on that manup. Unfortunately, we didn’t make the goalie work too hard."

The Warriors took eight shots during that possession, five on the manup, but only the last one was on goal and Derryfield goalie Parker Lebiedz came up with the save. In his first varsity start, the sophomore finished with 12 saves.

"I thought Parker played really well in net and made a huge save at the end," Hettler said. "I pulled my faceoff guy over and said ‘we’re going to need a faceoff.’ To Parker’s credit, he made the save when we needed him to make the save. That’s a situation where, I think we have really talented poles, but they haven’t been in that situation. We’ve got to continue to develop depth there."

Winnacunnet took an early lead, winning the opening faceoff and getting a goal from Tanyon Ziolkowski just 1:20 into the game. The Warriors got the ensuing faceoff, too, but missed on a pair of shots before Derryfield was able to gain possession.

Quinn Silvio tied the game at 1 with 8:46 left in the first half and Murray and RJ Proulx scored 14 seconds apart to give the Cougars a 3-1 lead. Tate Flint, who had two goals and three assists, scored his first with 7.0 left in the quarter to make it 4-1.

"The wind came out of our sails a little bit," Snow said. "We have a lot of new guys on offense and I don’t know whether it was nerves or effort in the first half, but things got away from us.

"We had some unforced errors there in the first half that led to some of those goals. A dropped pass in the offensive zone or lazy pass that went out of bounds, I thought groundballs were an issue. In the second half, we bounced back a little bit."

Down six to start the third quarter, the Warriors went on the manup after Derryfield's Logan Purvis was called for a crosscheck. Caleb White scored the first of his two goals 1:04 into the half and Tilley added another goal 20 seconds later to make it 7-3.

A failed clear helped set up an empty-net goal by White, and moments later, Ziolkowski scored his second goal to make it 7-5 with 6:26 remaining in the third.

"They just kept fighting and that’s where we’ve got to learn how to win," Hettler said. "There are a lot of things to learn from that. We took the foot off the pedal. When there were opportunities to get a groundball and clear it, we gave them a second chance and they get a goal. We don’t clear the ball right and they get an empty-netter. It’s a learning thing, but we found a way to make stops and get a goal when we needed it at the end."

Purvis won the faceoff for Derryfield to open the fourth quarter, and moments later, Winnacunnet's Tucker McCann was called for a crosscheck, giving the Cougars a manup opportunity. Murray wasted little time, getting a goal just 14 seconds later to give Derryfield an 8-5 lead.

"The offense, that was a big manup goal at the end," Hettler said. "It was the primary look, it was the secondary look off it and executed it well."

The Warriors were able to capitalize on another turnover, with Tilley making it a two-goal game against with 7:28 to play.

"We almost climbed our way back into it and unfortunately came up short," Snow said. "Derryfield played a good game and capitalized on some of our mistakes."