Fast start lifts Merrimack over Hanover

MERRIMACK – The Merrimack High School girls lacrosse team hasn’t had trouble scoring goals this season.

Despite that, the way the Tomahawks started Thursday’s game against Hanover was still a surprise.

Merrimack scored the first seven goals of the game, an outburst of offense that the Marauders couldn’t overcome, and the ’Hawks remained undefeated by handing Hanover its first loss 16-7.

Emily Pollard led Merrimack (9-0 in Division II) with six goals and Nikki Pelletier added four goals and an assist. Lauren Perry also had three goals while Julia Gladstone, making just her second varsity start in goal, stopped 10 shots including several in the second half when Hanover (10-1) was trying to get back in the game.

“We had moments that were brilliant, beautiful lacrosse,” Merrimack coach Beth Rogers said. “We had things we have to work on still. Overall, I’m happy with how they played. I did not think that was going to be the beginning of this game. Hanover came back and challenged us, which is good because we need to be challenged.”

After the ’Hawks went up 7-0 midway through the first half, the Marauders struck back by getting three straight goals – two by Claudia Noonan – to cut the lead to four with 7:25 to play.

But Merrimack ended the half by scoring three of the final four goals and led 10-4 at halftime.

“They were ready for a good game,” Hanover coach Marianne Doyle said. “I thought Merrimack played really well. They contributed to us playing sloppy and I think we were taken aback. They were aggressive on the ground balls and double-teaming hard. We had a hard time catching up. They took advantage when we made mistakes and executed well.”

The Marauders regrouped at halftime and scored the first goal of the second half just 1:20 in to make it a 10-5 game. Hanover then held Merrimack scoreless for the first 10:45 of the half.

The only problem was the Marauders weren’t scoring either.

“We had some reasonable chances that were fastbreaks that I’m glad we took,” Doyle said. “Then we had a hard time either getting the ball off the ground. We had one chance and it was back on defense again.”

Gladstone came up with some big saves during that stretch as Merrimack struggled to maintain possession of the ball.

“We have to get the draw control every single time and in the second half, I think the first five or six we lost,” Rogers said. “Getting that initial momentum is really key for us.”

Erin MacLean (three assists) finally got Merrimack on the board in the second half with 14:15 left, and after a couple of stops by both teams, the ’Hawks added two more goals to take a 13-5 lead with 4:49 left in the game.

Hanover was able to pull within six with 3:45 to play, but whenever Merrimack got control of the ball, it was able to run down the clock before tacking on another goal.

“It was a great team effort for them,” Doyle said. “We would slow down one person and someone else would kick in. We’d cover her and someone else would kick in.”

Evie Keating finished with three goals for Hanover while Noonan had two and Kate Patterson and Miriam Drubel had a goal apiece.

Merrimack also got two goals and an assist from Courtney Brown.

The ’Hawks return to action Saturday when they host Portsmouth (8-0) at 2 p.m.