Manchester Central girls lacrosse holds off Merrimack to pick up win (video)

MERRIMACK - Erin Duffy has seen the Manchester Central High School girls lacrosse team play quite a few competitive games since the start of last season.

On Wednesday, the Little Green coach saw her players go a step further against Merrimack.

After a back-and-forth first half, Central got out to a lead in the second half and withstood a comeback by the Tomahawks to pick up a 17-16 win in a Division I game.

"They played completely as a team," Duffy said. "They rose to the occasion and this just shows how resilient they are. We’ve had a couple of really tough games against Bedford, Londonderry and (Bishop Guertin), but they came out knowing they were going to be able to compete with this team and stayed consistent the whole time."

Katelyn Parker had four goals and two assists to lead Central (2-3) while Ryleigh Cavanaugh and Meg Harris had four goals and an assist each. The Little Green led 8-7 at halftime and extended the lead to four goals twice in the second half, including 17-13 with 3:11 to play before the Tomahawks (2-3) made a run at the end.

Amber Brewster scored three of her game-high six goals in the final 2:41 for Merrimack, making it a one-goal game with 1:01 to play, but Central won the ensuing draw, and despite turning it over with about 30 seconds to play, the Tomahawks couldn't capitalize.

"That is something I’m so proud of (Wednesday) because it’s something we haven’t been consistent about," Duffy said. "We have a very young team in general and we’re not a winning program, so we don’t have that experience to have that depth for a full 50 minutes. This showed me, and I know it showed them, that they can play a full 50 minutes and be competitive in games."

Central also got three goals and three assists from Emma Dudley while Emily Ahern had two goals and four assists and Kasey Kfoury made nine saves.

"She had a lot of great second saves that kept us in it and (Wednesday) is actually her birthday," Duffy said of Kfoury. "It’s always nice to have that win on your birthday. She keeps us in games, even last year. Our record was not good, but a lot of our games were close because she kept us in that. We’re very lucky to have her."

Brewster recorded her 100th career goal in the first half and Mel Hutchinson added five goals for the Tomahawks. Ellie Boucher had three goals and Lauren Wandell chipped in with two for Merrimack.

Hutchinson opened the scoring just 41 seconds into the game to give the Tomahawks a 1-0 lead, but Central came right back, took a 2-1 lead and eventually went up 5-2 when Merrimack took a timeout with 17:02 left in the half. The Tomahawks chipped away at the lead and eventually tied it at 6 on a goal by Hutchinson with 8:07 left in the half.

The Little Green wasted no time going back in front, as Parker scored two goals in 44 seconds to make it 8-6 with 6:58 remaining until halftime. Brewster got one of the goals back before the break, but Harris scored twice for Central to open the second half, making 10-7.

"I think it’s good and that comes from us playing other competitive games, where we didn’t really back down," Parker said. "We didn’t have that mentality at all this game. We just wanted to win."

The teams traded goals throughout the second half until Harris scored back-to-back goals again, this time in just 23 seconds, giving Central a 17-13 lead.

Brewster answered with a goal 30 seconds later and added another with 2:20 to play to make it a two-goal game. The Little Green won the draw, but turned it over with 1:25 remaining, and Hutchinson found Brewster for another score to cut the lead to one.

Merrimack returns to action Friday for a 4 p.m. game at Bedford while Central is off until May 1, when it hosts Concord at 5 p.m. at Manchester West.