Londonderry boys lacrosse comes back to beat Hanover

LONDONDERRY - There were a handful of things the Londonderry High School boys lacrosse team talked about improving on at halftime Thursday.

But really, the one thing that mattered most was in the middle of the field.

Hanover held its own on faceoffs in the first two quarters, part of the reason why the Marauders took a two-goal lead into the break. That lead stretched to three goals early in the third quarter when Londonderry's Tyler Grant started doing what he does best.

Grant won all 10 faceoffs in the second half to help the Lancers end the game on an 8-0 run, as Londonderry finished the regular season with an 11-6 win over Hanover.

"We had a conversation at halftime, about what Hanover was doing at the faceoff, and we were able to figure that out and Tyler started winning like he usually does," Londonderry coach Sean LeBlanc said. "Our offensive likes the ball. If we have the ball a lot, we're going to score a lot. Tyler got it in the second half. That was the difference maker for us."

The Lancers (13-3) offense started to take over midway through the third, when a goal by Nate Andrews made it a 6-4 game with 5:49 left in the quarter. Londonderry controlled possession most of the way after that, including the first seven-plus minutes of the fourth, as the Lancers took 27 shots in the final 18 minutes.

"Our first half, we played really well," Hanover coach Ryan Gardner said. "We competed for the groundballs, our goaltender played well and we played solid defense. Offensively, we minimized our turnovers. And then they started really winning the faceoffs and our defense just got worn down, especially in the fourth quarter."

The game was tied at 6 going into the fourth quarter, but Hanover's offense didn't get the ball until about five minutes remained in the game.

By then, Londonderry had taken a 10-6 lead, thanks to Grant's faceoff wins and its ability to keep possession after missed shots.

Andrews, Anthony Federico and Pete Navarro each had two goals during the second-half run and Alex Fawcett came up with some big saves in the second quarter that kept the Lancers close.

"A lot of teams have one or two go-to guys," Gardner said. "They've got guys we look at a little more, but they are a really deep team offensively. They've got a lot of numbers. That's hard, because you can't say we've got a great matchup here, or we'll move stuff off this guy. They've got six guys who can score."

Hanover (10-7) got a solid game from goalie Joe Warhold, who made 14 saves, many of which came in the first half and helped the Marauders hold on to a 5-2 lead. Graham Penfield finished with three goals and Jake Acker had two goals and an assist, while Brian Pattison also scored and Reed Winter had two assists.

The Marauders looked like they might make it into halftime with that three-goal lead, but Jake Holland scored with three-tenths of a second left in the half to get Londonderry within two goals.

The Lancers opened the second half with a couple of shots on Warhold, but the Hanover goalie was able to make the saves, and after a Londonderry penalty, Penfield scored to make it 6-3 with 9:31 left in the third.

"(Warhold) played a great first half and made a lot of saves," LeBlanc said. "Our guys were holding their sticks too tight and hitting the goalie quite a bit. We weren't playing our normal game, so we talked about taking a deep breath and relaxing and going back to our basics. That's what we did."

And it started with Grant winning the ensuing faceoff. The Lancers were able to keep control of the ball for most of the third quarter, and when Hanover did get it back, the Marauders turned it over before getting a shot off.

"That was a game that was pretty close most of the way," Gardner said. "As the game goes on, it's that inch here or that groundball there that ends up being the difference. Momentum is such a tricky thing."