Exeter boys lacrosse scores quick to take down Nashua South (video)

NASHUA - There were times during Monday's game where it looked like the Exeter High School boys lacrosse team was in trouble.

But then the Blue Hawks would scored a goal. And another. And another. And another ...

Exeter piled on the goals when it needed them and the defense overcame a slow start to open up the season with an 18-8 win over Nashua South at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.

Spencer Clark led the way for the Blue Hawks (1-0, No. 2 in the NHHSS Coaches Poll), scoring four goals, while Jackson Hale had three goals and two assists and Aiden Drunsic added three goals and a helper. Gavin Lechner recorded two goals and three assists and Connor Holly had a goal and three assists as Exeter had a 7-0 run in the first half and a 6-0 run in the second half.

"The strength of our team is that we can score," Exeter coach Gerry Holly said. "We can go top to bottom, we’ve got a lot of guys that can get to the cage and shoot and put it into the back of the net. We’re usually very unselfish, although (Monday) I thought we had some opportunities where we could have passed more. We can definitely put the ball in the net quick. We have a very balanced group."

The Blue Hawks showed both those traits against the Panthers (0-1, No. 6), getting goals from nine players, including two goals from Hayden Lechner and a goal apiece from Gavin Kostandin, Will Barry and Nick Sullivan.

And in the third quarter, after South had made it a three-goal game, Exeter scored five goals in 2:25 to go up 14-6 and take control.

The Panthers got two goals and an assist from Jaden Murphy while Sam Fletcher and Nate Campbell added two goals apiece. Connor Rowsell had a goal and two assists and Drew Fleury added a goal and an assist while Ethan Johnson made 12 saves.

South took a 3-1 lead in the first quarter by taking advantage of Exeter turnovers and being efficient with offensive opportunities. But as the Blue Hawks started to clean things up, the Panthers struggled to play their game.

"We lost our way," South coach Bill Monsen said. "We started doing things in every phase that we’ve talked about not doing and focused the past two weeks of not doing. On offense, we’ve got to keep the ball hot and dodge and kick it, put pressure on the goalie. We did that immediately and then we stopped. Defensively, we’ve got be more physical."

Hale and Hayden Lechner each scored in the final two minutes of the first to tie the game 3-3 and back-to-back goals by Gavin Lechner in the first 91 seconds of the second quarter gave Exeter the lead for good. Drunsic scored two goals sandwiched around a goal by Clark to make it 8-3 with 6:38 left until halftime and the Blue Hawks led 9-4 at the break.

"Thought we came out a little jittery," Holly said. "We had a lot of opportunities to hit the cage and we didn’t close early. We dropped a lot of passes and they put some pressure on us. I thought they played a pretty good first quarter and I thought we responded pretty well by putting up a bunch of goals."

Exeter opened the second half a man-up, but the Blue Hawks couldn't capitalize and South was able to maintain possession for a long stretch before Fleury scored with 8:25 left in the third quarter.

The Blue Hawks won the faceoff, but a turnover set up a goal by Rowsell that made it 9-6 with 6:41 remaining until the fourth. Exeter again won the face off - the Blue Hawks were 16 of 27 on the day - and took advantage of a fortunate bounce.

An Exeter shot was wide of the cage, but instead of sailing out of bounds, it hit South's Jacob Taylor in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Drunsic was right there for the uncontested groundball and beat Johnson to give the Blue Hawks a 10-6 lead.

Connor Holly scored 41 seconds later and Clark made it three goals in a minute to give Exeter a 12-6 lead. Clark and Hale then scored 26 seconds apart to give the Blue Hawks an eight-goal lead.

"We had that man-up and we didn’t score (to start the second half), which I think would have helped our momentum," Gerry Holly said. "They took the air out of the ball a little bit and that was a smart game plan for them to slow it down. I told the guys be patient. Once we get the ball, we can start pushing."

Depth became an issue for the Panthers at that point, as they tried to get a few more players involved.

"We started to put people in who got exposed kind of quickly," Monsen said. "That was tough, but I’m proud of how they finished the game and the attitude that they had right after the game. they know what they need to do and their excited to make the adjustments and play them again on Thursday."

The two teams will meet again at 4 p.m. at Exeter High School on Thursday. South then returns to Stellos for a game against Timberlane at 11 a.m. on Saturday.