Merrimack Valley starts fast, holds off Merrimack comeback in D2 girls lacrosse semis (video)

NASHUA - Alyssa Brodeur and Lilly Jones were walking back to midfield at Stellos Stadium to get ready for a draw in the final seconds of the third quarter of Sunday's Division II girls lacrosse semifinal.

The Merrimack Valley High School teammates were quiet until Jones told Brodeur she needed to get the draw and go score a goal.

Brodeur was more than happy to, as she singed the back of the net with a free-position shot as time expired, giving the Pride a lot of momentum going into the fourth quarter.

No. 3 Merrimack Valley rode that wave all the way to the end, keeping No. 2 Merrimack at bay throughout the second half to take a 13-10 win to advance to the D2 championship game for the first time in program history.

The Pride will face No. 1 Winnacunnet, which beat No. 5 Hanover in the other semifinal, for the title at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bedford High School. The Warriors will be playing in their second title game in a row, and looking for their first championship since 2006.

For Merrimack Valley (12-4), it's a whole different experience, as Sunday marked the first time in the semifinals for the program.

"We’ve spent years working for this," Merrimack Valley coach Kylee Yam said. "Four years ago, we won two games. We’ve just been working and working to get to this point. That gave us a little bit of the upper hand (on Sunday). And we’re the underdogs and we’re pretty good having that mentality."

The Pride certainly filled that role, having lost to the Tomahawks (14-2) by 10 goals when the teams met on April 25. This time around, they were able to take an early lead that grew to 8-3 in the second quarter before Merrimack closed the gap with a 4-0 run going into halftime.

"We all came in, we knew we were the underdogs and we didn’t have much to lose," Merrimack Valley senior goalie Taylor Gionet said. "We’re here, we’re ready and we want to win. We hyped each other up, played together and stuck together the entire time."

Gionet finished with 14 saves, including five in the third quarter, when the Tomahawks were trying to build on the momentum they had at the end of the first half. Instead, Merrimack went scoreless until the final seconds, getting a goal from Ava Woods to make it 11-8 with 13.6 seconds remaining.

That's when Jones relayed her message to Brodeur.

"I’m talking to Lilly Jones after that one," the senior said. "She’s like ‘I need you to win the draw and I need you to go put the ball in the back of the net.’ I won the draw, I ran it down, and I put it in the back of the net. You get told someone wants you to do something, so you want to do it even more. I think Lilly was a big motivator."

Ella Frink led Merrimack Valley with four goals while Brodeur and Jones had three goals and two assists apiece. Kaiya Mercier added two goals and an assist and Abbey Thompson had a goal and an assist.

Merrimack got three goals from Ava Martin while Payton Trepaney had a goal and four assists. Woods and Riley Taylor each had two goals and Lyla Carls and Lexi Bell had a goal apiece.

Jackie Hayes added an assist and Sophia Richard made 12 saves.

"It was a tough one to watch," Merrimack coach Katie Todd said. "That stung for sure. They wanted it more. Our girls came out kind of flatfooted and it was hard to shake out of that."

The Tomahawks looked like they did in the second quarter. Thompson scored with 6:16 left in the half to make it a five-goal game and the Pride won the ensuing draw.

Richard came up with the save, and moments later, Martin scored to make it 8-4. Merrimack won the draw and scored again, this time on a goal by Taylor, just 12 seconds later.

A Merrimack Valley turnover set up another goal by Martin with 2:53 left in the half, and the senior scored against with 2.2 on the clock to cut the lead to 8-7.

But the third quarter belonged to Gionet and the Pride.

"Their goalie is phenomenal," Todd said. "We kept shooting low and I kept telling the girls, you’ve got to move her. Throw some fakes or something."

That level of play is something Brodeur has come to expect from her classmate.

"She’s our glue," she said. "If we didn’t have her, we’d be a totally different team. She runs the backfield. She can bomb the ball, she can do short clears, and she saves everything that’s thrown at her. Every time a shooter gets up on the 8-meter, I believe in Taylor thoroughly."