Pinkerton girls lacrosse survives to get win against Bedford (video)

DERRY - The Pinkerton Academy girls lacrosse team has looked to its defense in a lot of big moments this season.

In the final minutes of Wednesday's game against Bedford, it delivered for the Astros.

Pinkerton forced a late turnover that led to the game-winning goal by Delaney Summers, and after Bedford won the draw, goalie Sara DiClemente came up with a save and a teammate got the groundball to help preserve a 12-10 win over the Bulldogs.

The win helped the Astros (13-3, No. 2 in the MerchSquared.com/NHHSSports Coaches Poll) stay a game ahead of Exeter and Nashua South in the Division I standings with the regular season winding down.

"I think it was pretty big, especially for the standings," Summers said. "We want a high seed, and they’re a good team. I think we adapted well throughout the game."

Summers, a sophomore, led Pinkerton's offense with six goals, four in the third quarter that was part of a 7-0 run by the Astros that saw them take a 10-6 lead. Hannah Lisauskas added two goals and two assists while Francesca Doyle, Anna Perkins and Ava Micheline had a goal and an assist apiece.

DiClemente finished with 11 saves, the biggest one coming at the end to keep the Bulldogs (8-6, No. 7) from tying it up.

"It felt amazing," the senior keeper said. "It’s good to have that last save, end it on a good save. That felt like a make-or-break in the game, if I didn’t have that, it might have been it for us."

It was one of a handful of moments where DiClemente not only kept Bedford off the board, but allowed Pinkerton to regain possession.

"She was lights out and she always is," Pinkerton coach Katie Bourque said. "It’s got to go through everyone to get to her, but she is a brick wall and I can’t say enough good things about her."

Bedford got four goals and an assist from Maddie Kiely while Eloise Montagano and Mary Lenti (one assist) each had three goals. Irene Tsai had nine saves, including a handful in the first half that allowed the Bulldogs to go on a run.

After Pinkerton took a 3-1 lead in the first quarter, Bedford responded, getting a goal just before the end of the frame that started a 5-0 run that took just over five minutes and gave the Bulldogs a 6-3 lead midway through the second quarter.

But Pinkerton got two goals back just before halftime, with Lisauskas scoring both, including one on a no-look, backhand shot with two seconds left. Bedford still led 6-5, but momentum had shifted.

"We’re playing with some young kids, some inexperienced kids, and we have a new squad," Bedford coach Christine Hodgdon said. "As much as we are working toward performing, we haven’t executed well. We understand coming to the end of the season, we have big games coming up and playoffs, so we have to start tightening up our game and showing up for four quarters."

The Bulldogs were able to hold off the Astros for most of the quarter, with a goal by Summers tying the game with 6:33 to play in the third. But Pinkerton tacked on four more goals, three by Summers, in the final four minutes of the quarter to go up 10-6.

Bedford wasn't done though, as Kiely scored with nine seconds left in the quarter, and with the Bulldogs controlling the draw in the fourth, they were able to slow things down and draw out possessions before scoring. A goal by Lenti with 6:05 to play tied the score at 10.

"You have plenty of time to execute what you need to do and tweak parts of the game that our third quarter lacked," Hodgdon said. "We did that. It was one goal at a time. We moved the ball, we took care of it, and in the third quarter, we had too many turnovers and poor shots. We got right back into it."

Pinkerton won the draw, but Tsai came up with a save on a free position from Summers and Bedford regained possession with a chance to retake the lead. Instead, the Astros created a turnover and transition opportunity.

"I was just kind of coming down the field and I only saw me and Franny (Doyle)," Summers said. "I just knew we had to get a goal then. I took it to the net, saw an opening, and shot it."

That gave Pinkerton an 11-10 lead with 3:29 to play, but Bedford got the draw and set up for a chance to tie. The defense came up big again for the Astros.

"Whoever was getting the possession was getting goals," Bourque said. "Draws and groundballs were huge and you’ve got to win them. We rely on our defense a lot and they’re doing a great job. We’re really proud of them. It gave us momentum the other way and we were able to get one."