Portsmouth girls lacrosse continues to roll with win over Nashua South

PORTSMOUTH – The Portsmouth High School girls lacrosse team didn’t need any validation as to how good it is, but the Clippers certainly gained an extra spring in their step last Wednesday when they defeated defending Division I champion Bedford.

Afterall, it was the Bulldogs who squashed Portsmouth’s championship dreams last year with a 14-10 victory in the Division I title game. That’s what made Portsmouth’s 10-7 victory sweeter, and the Clippers have rolled through their three opponents ever since.

Portsmouth’s latest victim was Nashua South on Friday night, as the Clippers took a 7-0 lead through the first quarter on their way to a 16-3 victory on Tom Daubney Field. Portsmouth (9-1) followed its win over Bedford with victories of 21-8 over Exeter and 19-9 over Division III Bow.

“That was such a big confidence boost for our team because we hadn’t beat them for so long and to finally beat them was a big confidence boost,” Portsmouth junior Morgan Ruhnke said. “I think it set us up for the rest of the season and gave us momentum heading into the playoffs.”

Ruhnke and senior Annie Parker scored three goals apiece, while sophomore Ginger Vinciguerra led the Clippers with four goals.

“(Bedford) was a good win, the girls went into that game really focused,” Portsmouth coach JoJo Curro said. “They really put in the work into that game and just pulled it out.”

Parker’s output gives her 42 goals on the season as she inches up the program’s all-time goal-scoring record book with 189 goals. The Syracuse University commit is in fifth place behind Emily Whitney (261 goals), Sam Whitney (238), Devon Parker (210) and Gracie Getman (206).

“We have a pretty young team but I really like how they don’t back down to a challenge,” Parker said. “They really take on the challenge and that (win over Bedford) really boosted our confidence. We’re still trying to get better and we’re not happy with that win. We look back at that game like how we can improve and continue to get better.”

Vinciguerra is one of those younger players that Parker eluded to after she moved to the midfield this year to build a potent trio of a scoring punch with Parker and Ruhnke (36 goals). Vinciguerra has 21 goals on the season.

“Ginger was an attacker last year because we had a pretty heavy senior class,” Curro said. “This year she’s a true middie and she’s just shining from end-to-end. She’s making defensive stops, great checks and also being a huge threat on the offensive side."

It took a little bit of time for Portsmouth to strike on Wednesday before Parker sparked the fire with 7:50 left in the first quarter. Vinciguerra then followed with back-to-back goals that were followed in the first quarter by Ruhnke (two goals), sophomore Lily Paterson and freshman Georgia Bouvier.

“Working with Annie and Morgan at midfield has been really big for me,” Vinciguerra said “I’m just filling the roles from the seniors from last year.”

Vinciguerra’s classmates, goalie Sage Bussiere and defender Maddy Houghton, were the main reasons why Portsmouth beat Bedford last week. Bussiere made 10 saves while Houghton played-lock down defense against standout Olivia Matthews by holding her to one goal.

“We had a huge senior class last year so I think they definitely had to step up with the year and they’ve been doing that all season so far and they’re continuing to progress,” Ruhnke said.

Portsmouth rests in first place in the Division I standings and shouldn’t be challenged until the regular-season finale at Souhegan (9-3). The Sabers handed Portsmouth its only loss last month with a 15-14 victory.