Hanover girls lacrosse picks up right where it left off in opener against Goffstown

GOFFSTOWN - The Hanover High School girls lacrosse program is used to seeing a certain level of success.

Over the last two decades, the Bears have been to nine Division II championship games, including last year's runner-up finish, and have been in the final four in eight of the last 11 years.

But after losing 11 players who contributed to Hanover's run in 2023, Bears coach Sarah Martin wasn't sure what exactly to expect in the team's season-opener Friday at Goffstown. The program received an influx of freshmen, some of whom Martin felt would be able to contribute right away, and against the Grizzlies, they showed that they could.

While senior Maeve Lee served as the catalyst for the Bears' offense and Nora Bradley and goalie Charlotte Robinson led the defense, the seven freshmen in Hanover's starting lineup held their own and then some.

Two of them - Maeve Bradley and Cassidy Loughman - got on the board, with each scoring three goals to help the Bears come back from a two-goal deficit and outscore Goffstown 6-1 down the stretch for an 11-8 win in Division II action.

"I’m so proud of my team," Martin said. "We played for the state championship last year and lost 11 players from last year. We’re so young. Freshmen are freshmen, they do wonderful things and then they make a lot of unforced turnovers. They worked really hard, and to have to come back, we started to figure the draw out a little bit. I was leaning on the freshmen a little bit."

The draw was a struggle for Hanover (1-0) in the first half, as Goffstown won 8 of 10, but the Bears were still able to hold a 5-3 lead at halftime thanks to six saves from Robinson.

"Goalie had a great game, and when you’re not getting possession of the draw, it’s huge," Martin said. "Nora Bradley did an incredible job on (Goffstown's Eva DeMattis). She’s a really good player and I thought Nora did a nice job on her. We’re just going to keep growing."

With Maeve Bradley and Loughman playing on either side of Lee, that growth started with their first varsity game. Loughman had two of her goals during Hanover's closing run and Bradley had the final goal of the game on a free position to help the Bears seal the win.

And Lee got them into that position, scoring three of her game-high five goals over a stretch of 2:09 in the fourth quarter to turn a 7-5 deficit into a one-goal lead.

"She is explosive, she’s an incredible leader," Martin said of Lee. "She leads with her heart first and she’s such a competitor. She’s incredibly competitive. She’s never going to say die. I feel I can put the ball in Maeve’s hands at any point in the game and she’s going to get to goal and put it in the back."

The Bears were scheduled to travel to face Keene-Monadnock on Monday, but that game has already been postponed with no makeup date yet.

That means Hanover's next game will be its first at home, when it faces Kennett for a 4 p.m. start on Thursday. The Bears follow that up by hosting Pinkerton at 11 a.m. on April 20.

"We’re still going to be competitive even if we’re young," Martin said. "There’s a sense of tradition where we’re never out of it."