Nashua South girls lacrosse comes back in second half to beat Goffstown (video)

NASHUA - The draw was going so well for the Nashua High School South girls lacrosse team late in Saturday's game against Goffstown, it was almost like it was a scripted play.

Sarah Signorello would take it, Bailey Morin would get the ground ball and get it to the offense, and eventually, the ball would end up in the stick of Olivia Johnson.

Johnson scored four times in the final eight minutes against the Grizzlies, as South rallied from a three-goal deficit with under 15 minutes to play to beat Goffstown 14-11 at Stellos Stadium.

"When they needed to dig deep, they dug deep and got gritty," South coach Ciki McIntire said. "We made some adjustments defensively, we made some adjustments on the draw circle. I thought Sarah Signorello and Bailey Morin did an unbelievable job on the draw circle in the second half that really kept us in it. They were face-guarding Kirsten McIntire, so she was using that to set picks for teammates to get open. They saw that and made that happen, so I’m really proud of those efforts."

Johnson finished with a game-high six goals, five of which came in the second half, while Kirsten McIntire had five goals and an assist. Signorello added a pair of goals and Liz Harrington also scored as the Panthers (3-2) won for the second time in as many days.

"I think in the second half, Coach McIntire told us we needed to pick everything up and get it together," Johnson said. "We really took that to heart. Bailey Morin got every ground ball and Sarah Signorello was amazing taking the draw. When we got the possession, we knew what we had to do. We worked the ball around, and whenever we had that open shot, we had to take it because we knew we had to get back in the game."

Goffstown (0-3) led 6-5 at halftime and was able to stay ahead of South early in the second half, eventually taking a 9-6 lead on a goal by Kayla Gorospe. But after being able to maintain possession for the first 10-plus minutes of the half, the Grizzlies struggled to slow down the Panthers.

"Possession is the name of the game, so if you don’t get the draw, it’s hard to cause turnovers in the defensive end and have an opportunity to score," Goffstown coach Catherine Bausha said. "In the first half, we had better possession off the draw. Then in the second half, we were challenged. There was an adjustment by Nashua South and it worked for them."

Elizabeth Bausha led the Grizzlies with five goals, with four coming in the first half, while Gracie Pierce had three goals, two of which came in the final nine minutes to keep Goffstown within striking distance.

After the Grizzlies went by three goals with 14:38 remaining, the Panthers responded with two goals in 19 seconds, as Johnson and Signorello scored to make it 9-8 with 13:37 to go. Kirsten McIntire tied the game a little more than three minutes later, but Goffstown was able to go back in front on a Pierce goal with 8:35 to play.

South took over the game on the ensuing draw. Johnson scored 1:14 later to tie it at 10 and then gave the Panthers the lead for good 18 seconds later.

Goffstown took a timeout with 7:03 to play, but South controlled the draw again and Johnson found the back of the net with 6:15 remaining to make 12-10 Panthers. After that, South was able to slow the pace down and Harrington and Johnson put in a goal each to give the Panthers some breathing room.

"We keep preaching make your teammates look good, do something that’s going to make your teammate successful, and they did that (Saturday)," Ciki McIntire said. "Sarah and Bailey seemed to have that connection. That’s such a key thing, just keeping the ball in our sticks and controlling the pace of the game."

Goffstown is back on the road on Monday, as the Grizzlies travel to Winnacunnet for a 4 p.m. start, while South heads to Concord for a 4 p.m. start on Tuesday.