Pinkerton girls lacrosse drew up perfect play for OT against Bedford (video)

BEDFORD - The Pinkerton Academy girls lacrosse team was working on a new play in practice earlier this week.

What better time to use it than in overtime?

During the break between the end of regulation and the extra period against Bedford on Thursday, Astros coach Katie Bourque called for the play if Pinkerton won the draw, something it hadn't done much of against the Bulldogs all game.

But this time, Pinkerton did, and after the Astros (11-5, No. 3 in the New Hampshire Orthopaedic Center/NHHSSports Coaches Poll) moved the ball around a few times, Sookie Folsom carried it below goalline extended.

As players moved away from the front of the goal, Ava Michelinie cut toward it, and Folsom found her for the game-winning goal in a 7-6 victory, just 30 seconds into the overtime.

“I definitely was nervous,” Michelinie said of her first overtime goal. “Franny (Doyle) was supposed to be the one that took it, but she was being face-guarded. The (Bedford) girl was on me tight and Sookie made a beautiful pass through the middle. I saw that the goalie was leaning towards her left, so I scored on the right.”

Initially, Pinkerton was looking for a transition opportunity if one presented itself, but if not, the new play was the call.

“We drew up the play (earlier in the week),” Bourque said. “We needed a goal, so I’m glad it worked. We wanted to get it and push down, go on offense and get a look. We’re going to look for the fast break, but if we don’t have it, settle it down and get a good shot.”

The goal capped what was another tough start injury-wise for the Astros, as sophomore Rylee Robinson went down early with an injury and didn't return. Pinkerton had already been playing most of the season without junior Delaney Summers, who is out for the rest of the year.

“Losing Rylee at the start of the game really hurt, but I feel like the girls rebounded pretty well and found away to come out on top,” Bourque said. “We really tried to preach playing the full 48 (minutes) and lacrosse is a game of runs. We’re going to have some, they’re going to have some, and then we want to have the one at the end.”

Bedford (7-7, No. 8) was able to get one of those runs late - the Bulldogs outscored Pinkerton 4-1 over the final 13 minutes of regulation - thanks to its dominance on the draw. With Mary Lenti leading the way, Bedford was 12 of 17 on the draw for the day.

Lenti had three goals for Bedford while Eloise Montagano had two, including the tying goal with 5:20 remaining in the fourth. Molly Muir also had a goal during the Bulldogs' rally and Irene Tsai had six saves.

Michelinie had three goals and an assist for Pinkerton while Doyle scored twice and Folsom had a goal and three assists. Grace Morrow also scored and Paige Fenner finished with five saves for the Astros.

“We needed this win,” Michelinie said. “We knew we needed to come out strong, play the hardest we can. We kept pushing, we kept going, and even when we’d be on defense for five minutes, we’d go and make it up on offense.”