Nashua South boys lacrosse scores overtime win against Timberlane (video)

NASHUA - The Nashua High School South boys lacrosse team is at its best when its offense is moving, and when the Panthers' top scorers have a matchup they desire, they have the green light to attack.

That was the case Saturday, when after South made its initial attempt in overtime against Timberlane, the ball ended up in Jaden Murphy's stick.

The senior first looked to make a pass, but then as the defense opened in front of him, Murphy made his way to the goal and beat Owls goalie Brady Martson to give the Panthers an 8-7 victory, their first of the season, at Stellos Stadium.

Murphy finished with a game-high four goals and Drew Fleury added two scores and Aidan Walsh won 13 of 17 faceoffs to help South (1-2, No. 6 in the Coaches Poll) to the win in its third-straight one-goal game against Timberlane (0-3, AVR).

"If you’ve got that matchup and it’s what we’re looking for, you’ve got the green light," South coach Bill Monsen said of the overtime winner. "It’s tough because we have some offensive firepower. I don’t want them to be hesitant.

"I was telling them to keep pressing the issue and at times it came back to haunt us because the goalie (Marston) was standing on his head. We were getting looks, we also hit three pipes. We’ve just got to keep attacking. They’re not a group that does well just sitting back."

Marston finished with 15 saves and kept Timberlane in the game, especially in the second quarter, when the Owls went scoreless, but trailed just 5-3 at halftime.

"Brady Martson had a game and a half," Timberlane coach Ken Blaszka said. "That’s how they win (against Marston). It’s never the rip-shot. It’s always the slow, off-speed bouncer. We gave up a couple of flukes. They had theirs too. It’s what happens at the beginning of the season."

Braidon Bowman led the Owls with two goals while Ryan Freeman, Jack Noyes and Ethan Gerry each had a goal an assist. Nick Matthews and Eric George added a goal each, while South also got goals from Connor Rowsell and Griffin Johnson.

The meeting was the first between the teams since Timberlane's one-goal win over South in the Division I preliminary round in 2019. Arriving at Stellos Stadum, Blaszka got the sense that that game was on the Panthers' minds.

"There is a lot going into this game because of two years ago," Blaszka said. "We lost to them in overtime and then we took a (playoff) game from them. I wouldn’t say that our guys knew about that, but I would say they did because they’ve got a lot of the same guys. We only had one real returner. There was an edge that I noticed when we got in here right off the bat."

Despite that, Timberlane was able to take a 2-0 lead but Murphy and Fleury each scored to tie the game up with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter. The Owls won the faceoff and after working the ball around a few times, took a timeout with 1:13 to the end of the frame.

Timberlane continued to move the ball around when Freeman went to the goal and scored with 1.8 seconds left to give the Owls a 3-2 lead.

"Let’s look for the right shot and have deeper, harder dodges," Blaszka said. "When we didn’t do that, we stalled. It’s not that I don’t want to push the game, but there were two or three opportunities where we pushed it and had turnovers. Sometimes their idea of pushing doesn’t understand that (someone) is covered. It’s poor technique or we’re tired. We just need possessions to give our defense time because we have a really good defense."

But the Owls weren't able to get possession much in the second quarter. The Panthers were able to keep pressure on Timberlane's defense, but South could only score three goals, taking a 5-3 lead into halftime on a goal by Murphy with 17.1 seconds left in the second.

Bowman scored 58 seconds into the third quarter and Matthews tied the game with his goal with 7:45 to go in the frame. South took control after that, winning the faceoff and putting a handful of shots on Marston. The Timberlane sophomore stopped all of them, except one, a goal by Rowsell that put the Panthers back on top, 6-5, with 5:04 to go until the fourth.

That's where it stood until Gerry tied it just 1:01 into the final quarter, but it took just 39 seconds for South to back in front on Johnson's goal. The Panthers had a couple of chances for more, but Marston stepped up again, and with 4:49 remaining, George scored out of a timeout to make it 7-7.

South appeared to catch a break when Timberlane's Billy Savage was called for a slash with 1:59 to play, but the Panthers couldn't put a shot on goal. Monsen took a timeout with 4.2 seconds remaining, but Fleury's final shot was broken up by Savage and time ran out.

"It was nice that we stuffed it," Blaszka said. "They gave it to (Fleury), they set a pick down there, and Billy still dislodged it. They didn’t get a shot. Four seconds to go, no shot on cage, can’t complain there."

The Owls were called for a hold on the faceoff to open overtime, and on the possession, Marston made a save on a shot by Fleury. But the rebound bounced all the way back to Rowsell, who got the ball to Murphy, setting up the winning goal.