Hanover girls lacrosse slips past Timberlane to reach D2 title game (video)

MANCHESTER - When the Hanover High School girls lacrosse team dropped its regular-season game with Timberlane, Bears coach Sarah Martin left the field thinking she'd sure like her team to have a chance to play the Owls again.

Hanover got that chance in Saturday's Division II semifinal and the Bears made the most of it.

Claire Higgins scored with just over two minutes left and No. 5 Hanover got the stop it needed on defense moments later to hang on for a 12-11 win over No. 1 Timberlane at Manchester Memorial High School.

The Bears will play in the D2 title game for the first time since 2023 and will be lookin for their first title since 2016 when they face No. 2 Winnacunnet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

“I’m so proud of their fight,” Martin said. “We’ve been a little bit up and down all season. We’re young and we’ve just been working out the kinks and the kids have hung in there and stuck with the game plan.

“After we played them (on April 20), and they absolutely handled us at home, I remember walking off the field and saying ‘I hope we get them again.’ I know we can be better. I know how good Timberlane is. I just wanted to test ourselves against the best.”

The game itself was up and down for Hanover (12-6), as the Bears went up 3-0, saw the Owls (16-2) come right back to tie the game before the end of the first quarter. Neither team led by more than one until Timberlane scored twice in 48 seconds with five mintues left in the third quarter.

The Owls took that lead into the fourth, but two of Cassidy Loughman's team-high five scores tied the game less than two minutes into the quarter. Iris Chesnut then gave the Bears the lead with 6:41 to play, but Timberlane's Rylee Donahue tied the game again with 4:55 remaining, setting the scene for Higgins' game-winner.

“I have to give it to Cassidy Loughman, she was just playing her heart out,” Martin said. “She is such a strong player. She really put the team on her back and just was so determined to get it done.”

Loughman also took the draw for the Bears, helping them go even with the Owls for the game.

“Our fight, we really played for each other the whole time, played as hard as we could and really tried to make it for each other,” Loughman said. “I feel like that really just drove us through this entire game and helped us stay on top of the game even when we were down.”

After Donahue tied the game, Timberlane won the draw, but turned it over with a little more than four minutes remaining. Martin called a timeout with exactly four mintues to go, and out of the break, a shot by Maeve Bradley was stopped by Owls goalie Kayla Apitz.

But Hanover's ride was successful in getting the ball back, giving the Bears a second chance, and this time, they worked more of the clock.

“It’s really just about that mental toughness that we’ve been working on all season,” Loughman said. “We’ve been working a lot on clock management. We just tried to hold it for as long as we could, and then Claire Higgins took it home. I’m so proud of her.”

Finally, with just over two minutes to play, Joia Collins made a move to the goal, drawing multiple defenders. Higgins slipped behind them and Collins found the freshman for the game-winner with 2:06 to go.

“I feel like my young ones are finally coming along and they understand the system now,” Martin said. “And I’ve got some incredible feeders that know how to get the ball in. In the beginning of the season, we were sort of bobbling those. Now we’re starting to put those away.”

Timberlane won the ensuing draw and Johnson had a look from just outside the crease, but sent the shot wide. The Owls got the groundball and Donahue appeared to have tied the game with a shot that found the far top corner, but a whistle blew for a foul on the Bears just before the shot, negating the goal.

After shooting high, Donahue attempted to go low with the free position and Hanover freshman goalie Rainey Fisher came up with the save. Timberlane again got the groundball, but turned it over with under a minute remaining and the Bears were able to run out clock.

“Those last moments when we were on defense, I was kind of freaking out a little bit,” Loughman said. “I had trust in my teammates. Rainey coming up with that save was so amazing. It was so clutch and I’m so proud of her. She kept us in this game.”