Portsmouth boys lacrosse gets balanced effort to secure win over Derryfield

PORTSMOUTH - When Chad Vischer arrived at the Derryfield School on Tuesday, he almost turned around and left.

The Cougars boys lacrosse team had just finished taking a six-goal lead near the end of the first quarter against Timberlane, and with his Portsmouth team scheduled to play Derryfield two days later, Vischer wasn't sure he wanted to see more.

"I saw them play against Timberlane, who I think is an excellent team, and I walked in near the end of the first quarter," Vischer said. "It’s 6-0 and I walked back out and thought ‘oh boy, we’ve got issues.’ They don’t have weaknesses. Between their great coaching and their lack of weaknesses, it made me nervous."

Despite all that, Portsmouth found a way Thursday night to keep its unbeaten record in tact and hand Derryfield its first loss of the year, as the Clippers held on at the end for a 9-8 win over the Cougars. For Portsmouth, it was the fifth win in a row against Derryfield and 22 straight win over all.

The Clippers (12-0, No. 5 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) got the win by looking at like the team they were a year ago.

Zac Amend had three goals and two assists to lead Portsmouth, but five other players scored goals, as Nick Smith had two scores and Ben Purcell, Briggs Catino, Lucas Patten and Baden Paterson also had a goal apiece. Kai Paterson finished with eight saves.

"Last year, we had seven or eight guys we had full confidence in contributing," Vischer said. "Now we’re building guys to contribute. We’re not deep but we’re building. Those guys have seniors over there. That was my nervousness, they are a lot like we were last year."

Derryfield (11-1, No. 2) got three goals from RJ Proulx while Tate Flint had two goals and an assist and Ethan Flanagan scored twice. Quinn Silvio also had a goal and Chili Cabot and John Kramer each had an assist. Parker Lebiedz finished with nine saves.

But for a team that used to having the edge in possession, getting opportunities at times was hard to come by for the Cougars. Logan Purvis battled Smith on faceoffs, but the Portsmouth junior finished 13 of 21, and as a team, Derryfield turned the ball over 15 times.

Portsmouth also had four manup opportunities, scoring on one, while Derryfield had none.

"They forced us into playing fast and we didn’t keep our heads necessarily," Derryfield coach Chris Hettler said. "Way too much time in the penalty box. When you turn the ball over that many times and give them that many opportunities, you’re probably not going to win too many games like that.

"Nice part is we only lost by one. We played probably one of the worst games we could play and we were able to hang in there and give ourselves a shot at the end."

Portsmouth took the lead less than a minute in, as Smith scored 58 seconds into the game. Derryfield tied it three minutes later and took its only lead with 7:31 left in the first on back-to-back goals by Proulx and Flanagan.

Catino tied it back up with 3:05 to go in the quarter, starting a furious finish that saw the teams combine for four goals. Portsmouth netted three of them, including one by Amend with 21 seconds left in the quarter for a 4-3 Clippers lead after one.

"It was two teams feeling each other out," Hettler said. "Feeling matchups and where to attack each other, and they made some good adjustments on defense. I thought we made some good adjustments on defense. Then it was just athletes making plays."

The Clippers kept the lead, and possession, for most of the first six minutes of the second, before finally turning it over with 7:37 to go until halftime. Derryfield's offense was able to settle in and Flint set up Flanagan for a goal to tie it 4-4 with 5:57 left in the half.

Smith put Portsmouth back in front off a Derryfield turnover with 2:16 remaining in the half and the Clippers added to that to start the third quarter.

Amend forced a turnover on the ride and scored easily to make it 6-4, and the junior then found Baden Paterson for a goal and a three-goal lead with 7:56 to play in the frame. But after the goal, the Portsmouth bench was assessed a conduct foul and Derryfield took possession.

Flint scored moments later, starting a 3-0 to end the quarter for Derryfield, making it 7-7 going to the fourth.

"I was really concerned with that unsportsmanlike that I got, which turned a faceoff," Vischer said. "I thought it was a late hit. To go from 7-4 and they got the ball, and then they score, I turned to one of my coaches and said ‘I may have just turned the tide.’ They are such a good team, you don’t want to give them anything."

But any momentum the Cougars built dissipated during the break, as Smith won the faceoff, got the ball to Amend, who found Purcell for the go-ahead goal 48 seconds into the quarter.

It looked like Derryfield was going to tie it back up in transition moments later, but Kai Paterson got just enough of a low shot by Silvio to keep the ball out of the net.

The Cougars did eventually tie it with 7:56 to go on another goal by Proulx. Derryfield won the ensuing faceoff, but almost immediately turned the ball over and Portsmouth took advantage, going ahead for good on a goal by Patten with 6:31 to play.

Derryfield had one more chance, getting the ball back in the final minute, and after taking a timeout with 50 seconds to go, the Cougars got a good look, but couldn't convert.