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# Late defensive play secured Winnacunnet's D2 girls lacrosse finals win over Hanover
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/late-defensive-play-secured-winnacunnets-d2-girls-lacrosse-finals-win-over-hanover/
- Published: 2026-06-12T22:11:27.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-12T22:11:27.000Z
- Description: EXETER - Taylor Burness saw what was unfolding in front of her and decided to let things come to her. With just 18.5 seconds remaining in the Division II girls lacrosse championship game, the Winnacunnet High School senior was lining up to the left of Hanover's Cassidy Loughman on a free position.
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, championship, girls lacrosse, Hanover, playoffs, slider, Winnacunnet, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

EXETER - Taylor Burness saw what was unfolding in front of her and decided to let things come to her.

With just 18.5 seconds remaining in the Division II girls lacrosse championship game, the Winnacunnet High School senior was lining up to the left of Hanover's Cassidy Loughman on a free position.

Burness also saw Maeve Bradley, Loughman's teammate, standing on the 12-meter, looking over to see what the junior might do. The two looked at each other, and Burness saw that, too.

So when Loughman, who had scored five of her game-high seven goals in the second half, started in like she was going to shoot, Burness dropped back behind teammate Emily Arlington, who was defending Bradley.

Instead of shooting, Loughman passed over to Bradley, who quickly tried to thread a pass to a cutting Claire Higgins, but Burness was ready for the pass and cut it off. She knocked the ball down and then picked it up, racing down field as time ticked away.

By the time the Bears were able to slow Burness down, she had run out the clock and No. 2 Winnacunnet held on to beat No. 5 Hanover 12-11 to win its second D2 title in a row at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

“We were trying to defend (Loughman) all game,” Burness said. “She’s very good, very hard to defend. I knew she wasn’t going to drive to me, she was going to the ground next to me. I let off and I knew (the pass) was going that way.”

As she ran, Burness was looking up at the big scoreboard at the other end of Eustis Field, counting down the time.

“My heart was racing,” Winnacunnet junior McKinley Fowler said. “As soon as they got the call, I was just like ‘oh, please defense, please.’ And then (Burness) sealed the deal.”

Winnacunnt coach Glenn McKenzie knew as soon as Burness got the groundball, no one was going to catch her.

“Taylor caused it and then got it, and she’s so fast,” McKenzie said. “She was determined there wasn’t anybody stopping her going down there, so that was it. She stepped up.

“She’s had a great career here, in lacrosse and soccer. She’s won championships in both. She’s just a great athlete.”

The play capped what had been a back-and-forth offensive game for most of the night. Hanover (12-7) got out to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter but the Warriors (18-3) responded with a 7-0 run to start the second quarter and take a four-goal lead.

The Bears tacked on two goals in the final two minutes before halftime and never went away throughout the second half, tying the game in the third quarter and twice getting within a goal in the fourth.

“They’re close,” Hanover coach Sarah Martin said of her team, which had no seniors on the roster this season. “They weren’t quite there, but they were close. The resilience and the toughness, and to figure out how hard you have to work and how much you have to trust your teammates and keep pushing through mistakes, just all such great life lessons.”

After Loughman scored twice to open the third quarter and tie it at 8, Ari Rizzo (five goals) answered right away for Winnacunnet to put the Warriors back in front 9-8\. Elle Emery then added a goal and Rizzo put in one more with 3.3 seconds remaining in the third for an 11-8 lead going into the final quarter.

Loughman got one back just 34 seconds into the fourth and then made it a one-goal game with 7:46 remaining. The Bears won the draw and had a chance to tie, but Warriors goalie Benten Lyford came up with a save and Winnacunnet was able to clear.

Moments later, Arlington scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with 5:27 remaining, but Loughman had an answer again, scoring on a free position a little more than a minute later to make it a one-goal game again.

Winnacunnet won the draw, and had a couple of turnovers while trying to run out the clock, but Hanover was unable to clear on the first two. The Bears finally got the ball across midfield with a little more than a minute remaining.

Bradley had a chance to tie but her shot was stopped by Lyford. Hanover got the groundball, setting up the final sequence moments later.

“We like to put ourselves in those hard situation, but we come to fight and we come to win,” Burness said. “I’m really proud of my team.”