Open mindset helped Portsmouth girls lacrosse evolve into D1 champion

The season ended the same way many have over the last 17 years for the Portsmouth High School girls lacrosse team.

With a 12-7 win over Bishop Guertin in the Division I title game on June 4, the Clippers hoisted a championship plaque for the 10th time since 2007, and the program's first in the state's top division.

But when Portsmouth took the field back in March for the preseason, the Clippers didn't necessarily look like a team that would end up in that spot. After losing in the championship game to Bedford in 2023, the Clippers graduated eight seniors, including their entire starting defense.

"We lost an amazing group of girls," Portsmouth senior co-captain Maggie Conklin said. "Coming off a loss and losing half our team, I think that was a lot. We felt pressure to get the ball rolling and get everyone on the same page. There were a lot of steps.

"The real focus was first getting to play together as a team, and then playing together to win. We needed to be more close-knit with each other."

Conklin was one of the four new defenders who had to step in, but she was the only senior, and two of the other new starters had never played in the program before.

But Portsmouth did have its goalie, sophomore Sage Bussiere returning, and that led head coach JoJo Curro and assistant Erin Chase to think about trying something new.

"Defensively, we really wanted to focus on the team aspect of it," Curro said. "Being a new team, younger, we didn’t always know where everyone was going to fit. It was (Erin’s) idea to incorporate more of a zone defense. Let’s see how this goes."

The results were there early in the season for Portsmouth, as it won its first four games, including its first two over Pinkerton and Bishop Guertin. But the wins didn't show the whole story, and it wasn't until after the Clippers lost to Souhegan, 15-14, in their next game, that the changes started to take hold and new players felt comfortable in new spots.

"I never had a sense of doubt that what we were doing, or if we needed to scrap something altogether, I never felt that because of the group of girls that we have," Curro said. "I know their competitive edge, and I know they want to fight, and I just know they will. All it takes is one person to start that and a lot of times, it was one of my captains."

While Conklin and the defense were getting acclimated, her fellow captains, senior Annie Parker and junior Morgan Ruhnke, were adjusting to bigger roles on the other end of the field. Both were starters a year ago for the Clippers, but with young players stepping in around them, they each had to take on bigger roles on and off the field.

"Coming into the season, I knew there were a lot of things that needed to be done and we had to help the team in a big way," Ruhnke said. "We stepped up and took on that role. We built great chemistry. We had a lot of freshmen and we had to incorporate them as best we could. We just worked really hard to create a balanced environment with the team so everyone can get along and play well."

It helped that the Clippers were able to keep the focus on getting better as individuals and as a team, rather than worrying about expectations from the outside.

"Shut your phone off, keep locked in, focus on what we can do one game at a time," Parker said. "None of us were concerned and thinking ‘what if we don’t make (the final).’ It was have a good season and when we get into the playoffs, it’s just one game at a time. Each game could be your last, so how badly do you want it."

Going into the championship game, Portsmouth knew it was going to see a different Bishop Guertin team than the one it beat in overtime in the second game of the season.

But the Clippers also knew they were a different team, too.

"It was uncertain," Parker said. "You don’t really know the team, you’re completely different. Our team, in the very beginning (of the season), was timid and nervous, but by the end of the year, we had so much confidence. We were both different teams going in."

The plan for Portsmouth was to just keep doing what it had been doing all year, but have a few adjustments prepared in case of emergency.

"You go into it with a game plan, and we watched a lot of film, but you also don’t know who on the other team is going to step up that day," Curro said. "That’s what we had to be ready for and we had things in our back pocket if that happened. Thankfully, we were able to keep playing how we play."

This year's team graduated six seniors, including Parker and Conklin, but with so many underclassmen getting opportunities to play, there will be a lot of experience coming back next spring.

"You’ve had that experience, you got it, and now I’m asking for more," Curro said. "I’m going to want more. They’re going to want more from themselves. It can’t be the same. It’s another challenge we’re going to put in front of them, but I know they’re going to take it."