Pinkerton girls lacrosse hangs on for win against Hanover (video)

DERRY - The Pinkerton Academy girls lacrosse team was well on its way to a convincing win Wednesday against Hanover.

But in the final 10 minutes, the Bears started to make things interesting.

Ultimately, the seven-goal lead the Astros built in the first 40 minutes of the game proved to be enough, as Pinkerton survived a late run by Hanover for a 15-11 win in a non-division game.

Hailey Schnider and Hannah Lisauskas had five goals and an assist each, as the Astros used a 6-0 run that spanned each half to take a 10-4 lead early in the second. Pinkerton (9-3, No. 8 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) got the lead to 12-5 on a goal by Lisauskas with 10:55 remaining before Hanover made things interesting.

"They played well-round from defense to offense and on the draw," Pinkerton coach Katie Bourque said. "We got in our groove. Winning the draw, going down, that’s huge. The game is won on draw controls and groundballs. It’s what we need to do to make sure we’re getting offensive possessions.

"Hanover is great. The game doesn’t stop until the clock hits zero. You’ve got to play it until it runs out."

Bella Pinardi added three goals and an assist for the Astros while Piper Knowlton scored twice and Natalie Paradzick had two assists. Francesca Doyle and Anna Perkins each had an assist and Sara DiClemente made seven saves.

Hanover (8-1, No. 10) got four goals and an assist from Kali McDonnell and Emily Paras had three goals and a helper, with all of her scores coming during the Bears' 6-3 run to end the game. Mia Madden added two goals and two assists.

"I think we played a lot of heart and the kids fought hard," Hanover coach Sarah Martin said. "I was really proud of how they came back in the second half. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes of throwing the ball away, but they were a little nervous coming in against a Division I team. I think it was a huge learning curve for us and we’ll be so much better having this kind of competition."

Maggie Higgins and Maeve Lee had a goal and an assist apiece for the Bears and Charlotte Robinson made seven saves.

Pinkerton took control of the game after the 15-minute mark in the first half, getting back-to-back goals from Lisauskas and Schnider to take a 6-3 lead with 13:25 to go until halftime.

Hanover won the ensuing draw and got one of the goals back, but after the Bears won the draw again, DiClemente came up with a save at the other end, and Schnider scored on a free position to put the Astros back up by three goals. The teams repeated the sequence again, with Hanover getting the draw, DiClemente making a diving save and clearing the ball quickly.

At the other end, Doyle found Pinardi breaking toward the cage for a goal and an 8-4 lead with 6:44 to go until halftime.

"Sara was huge," Bourque said of her goalie. "She was lights out. She was seeing the ball excellent in warmups and she was an animal in the cage. Defense did a great job of sliding and working together. They’re getting sticks in the passing lanes and working as one unit, which is huge for us because it’s going to create turnovers."

The Astros had a chance for more late in the half, but Robinson made a pair of saves to keep it a four-goal game. Pinkerton opened the second half with goals from Lisauskas and Knowlton less than a minute apart to go up 10-4 just 1:37 into the half.

Hanover's defense kept Pinkerton in check for a long stretch after that, and McDonnell scored with 15:42 left to play to cut the lead to five. But Schnider scored 1:09 after that to get the lead back to six and Lisauskas made it seven moments later.

"We haven’t played against a kid like (Schnider)," Martin said. "For my defense to have to handle her and then slide and take care of everybody else, it makes us so much better. They’re physical and aggressive, and we haven’t played anyone who is athletic as we are and slides faster than we do. I think that was an adjustment for our kids."

It looked like those adjustments were complete when Hanover scored back-t0-back goals less than a minute apart, making it 12-7 with 7:51 to play. After a timeout, Pinkerton won the draw and ran off about three minutes before Pinardi scored for a 13-7 lead with 4:20 to go.

The Bears weren't done, as they won four of the next five draws, going on a 4-1 run in under four minutes to get within 14-11. But only 36 seconds remained after Hanover's final goal, and after a turnover, Schnider went the length of the field and scored to wrap things up.