Derryfield hangs on to beat St. Thomas in D2 boys lacrosse semifinals (video)

BEDFORD - The Derryfield School boys lacrosse team hasn't had to rely on its defense that much throughout the season.

That was, until Thursday night's Division II semifinal against St. Thomas.

The Saints put the Cougars to the test, particularly in the fourth quarter, when they had possession for most of the 12-minute frame, and trailed by just a goal for most of it.

But No. 1 Derryfield kept No. 5 St. Thomas at bay and withstood the extended pressure on its end of the field until the Cougars could get ball back and run out the clock on a 7-5 win at Bedford High School.

Derryfield moves on to the D2 championship game for the fourth year in a row, where it will face No. 6 Portsmouth, which knocked off No. 2 Winnacunnet in the other semifinal. It will also be the fourth-straight final meeting between the teams and the sixth time since 2017.

Brady Doldo (one assist), Emerson Stover and Dom Cercone each had two goals for the Cougars (19-0) while Ryan Maxwell had a goal and three assists.

Jackson Hatfield was 13 of 15 on faceoffs and Liam England recorded 12 saves, including one in the final two minutes that helped Derryfield preserve the win.

"Winning all those faceoffs for us was huge (Thursday)," Derryfield coach Chris Hettler said. "We needed all of those possessions. They were very patient and they ran some good sets. My defense, I told them you are going to be dead when you come out of this game, but you’re going to feel good.

"They threw everything at us and they just kept coming and coming and coming. Liam and the guys stood up to the test."

The Saints outshot the Cougars 12-3 in the fourth quarter and 30-23 for the game.

Jackson Estes had two goals and an assist and Finley De Tolla had two goals to lead St. Thomas (13-6) while Garrett Aceto also scored. Aidan Morrison and Ryan Resch each added an assist while Jake Moore had 10 saves, including a pair late in the first half that kept it a one-goal Derryfield lead at the break.

"I thought the compete level overall was great," St. Thomas coach Scott Singer said. "I don’t think we shot our best all day. We had a lot of good looks that I think on most days we’re canning. These guys probably wish they had a lot of those back. We kind of just sprayed the ball, so it definitely wasn’t our best shooting day. We got a lot of good looks we just didn’t get them in the back of the cage."

Estes scored in the first minute of the game, but England bounced back to keep the Saints out of the net for the rest of the quarter. Two goals in the final 14 seconds of the first gave Derryfield a 3-1 lead after one, but De Tolla and Aceto scored in the second to tie the game at 3.

The Cougars answered back, getting a manup goal from Doldo with 3:36 left in the half for a 4-3 lead. It looked like Derryfield would get more, but More made back-to-back saves on the crease in the closing moments of the half to keep it a one-goal game.

"We felt like we had good looks, but Jake More made some incredible saves," Hettler said. "There were a couple like that. Liam did a great job, too, making some huge ones when needed them."

Any momentum the Saints had at the end of the half disappeared early in the third quarter, when Cercone and Stover scored 39 seconds apart to make it 6-3 less than two minutes into the half.

But St. Thomas took control on offense after that, keeping possession for long stretches. Estes cut the lead to 6-4 with 3:31 left in the third, and then assisted on De Tolla's goal with 7:44 to play to get the lead down to one.

Derryfield won the ensuing faceoff, but turned the ball over, setting up the Saints' lengthy possession.

"Our offense is at its best when we’re playing with six guys," Singer said. "Obviously, we’ve got a couple of guys who are really talented, but we’re at our best when we’re sharing the ball and being patient. We tried to do that in the second half. We got a lot of really good looks, we just didn’t shoot well."