Derryfield girls lacrosse returns to D3 final with win over Pelham (video)

MANCHESTER - The way the playoffs have been going, the Derryfield School girls lacrosse team could have used some time off.

The Cougars got some Saturday, but not exactly in the way they wanted. Despite that, they rolled with it and kept their season going.

Not even Mother Nature could slow down Derryfield, as the Cougars came out after a halftime lengthened by a lightning delay and scored two quick goals to snatch all the momentum and cruised to an 11-3 win over Pelham in the Division III semifinals.

The win sends the Cougars back to the championship game, where they will face Hopkinton, which defeated Laconia in the other semifinal, at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Laconia High School. It's a rematch of the 2019 title game, won by the Hawks.

"It’s awesome," Derryfield coach Mellissa Catenza said. "It’s been our mission since preseason. We wanted to go back to the ’ship. Our seniors, who had no season last year, that’s been their mission, so here we go."

Those seniors stepped up in the win over Pelham. Lucy Licata led the way with six goals, Shawna Lesmerises had eight saves and Lauren MacLean and Leah Hoey helped contribute to a defensive effort that saw the Cougars allow just one goal over the final 37 minutes of the game.

After a grueling four-overtime win against Bow in the first round and a one-goal win over St. Thomas in the quarterfinals, it was the kind of win Derryfield (14-1) needed. The teams also played in the season-opener, with the Cougars beating the Pythons 14-5.

"We had a lot of fatigue from our two-and-a-half hour game on Monday and then back playing St. Thomas, who is a very fast, very skilled team," Catenza said. "That was tough. I haven’t really given them a day off for two weeks. You can never underestimate someone."

All of that factored into a start that saw Derryfield up 2-1 eight minutes into the game and 4-2 with 12:31 remaining in the half.

"I think coming off two of our hardest games of the season, we were really amped for this," Licata said. "It gave us all the skills we needed to come into this game with the right mindset. I think we were a little bit overconfident, but that was shut down quickly when we realized it was going to be a lot tighter than we thought."

Rain started falling in the final moments of the half, but despite what turned into a downpour with winds strong enough to blow a tent onto the field, Derryfield was able to go on a 3-0 run in the final five minutes to take a 7-2 lead into halftime.

And that's when the lightning arrived and both teams retreated into the school. The break ended up being close to a half an hour, and when play resumed, the Cougars picked up right where they left off.

Licata scored twice in the first three minutes of the half to make 9-2, and Lilly Losey and Abbey Carr (four goals, two assists) each scored to give Derryfield an 11-2 lead with 15:41 to play.

"We were a little disappointed with how we played in the first half," Licata said. "We had a little bit of a lead, but not as much as we wanted. Coming into the second half, we had a good halftime talk about just rising the intensity, especially if we wanted to get to a championship game.

"That wasn’t a game that we could have played in a championship, the way we were playing. With the intensity that we brought right from the bat, we incorporated our talk right from the start, which was great to see."

Pelham (9-5) got all three of its goals from Jordyn Galgay, including one with 12:55 remaining in the game to finish out the scoring.