Londonderry boys lacrosse knocks off Nashua North in regular-season finale

NASHUA - Joe McCune wanted to see his Londonderry High School boys lacrosse team end the regular season on a high note.

What better way to do that than knock another team down a spot in the standings?

The Lancers got out to an early lead, going up 8-3 in the first quarter Wednesday, and kept the ball away from Nashua North for long stretches in the second half to defeat the Titans 16-10  at Stellos Stadium in the final Division I game of the regular season for both teams.

While Londonderry (10-7) remained as the seventh seed going into the tournament, which doesn't start until June 5, the combination of North's loss and Hanover's win over Salem, knocked the Titans (10-6) from fourth to fifth in the standings.

"After playing (Tuesday), we played hard against a good opponent and didn't get the result, so for them to rebound like this and come out with energy, it was good to see," McCune said. "We've been bit by the injury bug here recently, so we're working in a lot of the younger guys hoping that they step up and execute, and so far, they have. They did that, at least (Wednesday)."

The Lancers got four goals and three assists from David Wiedenfeld, while Nicholas Yennaco had three goals and two assists and Max Hastings added three goals. Goalie Erik Kenison finished with 11 saves, including several in the second half the kept North from drawing closer.

"When he's seeing the ball and moving his feet, he's a darned good stopper," Kenison said. "The one thing about Erik, too, is that he has a great attitude about it, so he doesn't get too down or too up. He's usually pretty solid about keeping his head in the game."

Tom Haller led the Titans with three goals while Jake Genest, Jon Searles (assist) and Ryan Marvin had two goals apiece, and goalie Hanzla Sheikh, who was making his first start of the season, stopped 11 shots.

"He made some really good stops," North coach Keith Bertrand said. "Londonderry is a very good offensive team and he saw a lot of rubber. His clears were very good and right on the stick. It was a great experience for him as we go into the playoffs, because he's our starter for us the rest of the year. He got his feet wet a little bit and hopefully he’s got some confidence."

The teams trade goals through the game's first three-plus minutes, but two Londonderry goals just 40 seconds apart put the Lancers up 4-2 with 6:19 to play. Londonderry stretched that lead to 8-3 with 1:11 to go in the opening quarter, but North was able to score twice in the final minute to cut the lead to three.

The Titans pulled within two in the second quarter, and answered every time the Lancers went back ahead by three, but North couldn't get any closer thanks to an inability to clear its zone in the third. Londonderry went up 12-9 on a goal by Hastings with 5:25 left in the third, starting the Lancers on a 3-0 run to close the quarter up 14-9.

"The main difference was that in the beginning of the second half, we played defense for about five minutes straight," Bertrand said. "We could not clear the ball out of our end, we kept getting stripped, and when we did clear the ball, we threw it away. The problem was that we played so much defense, and we were consistently a man-down. At the end of the day, that was our downfall."

While Londonderry wasn't consistently putting the ball in the net, the Lancers were keeping it away from North, and with a lead in the fourth quarter, that was just as important as scoring.

"That is a lot of times key, if you're up, you don't have to go to the cage," McCune said. "You can get a little more comfortable and still be moving so that you can get that opportunity and when it presents itself, you can put the ball in the net."

Both teams will be off for a week until the start of the Division I playoffs, which begin June 5 with the quarterfinals. Londonderry will likely face rival Pinkerton, while North will now have to travel to play Hanover.