Portsmouth girls lacrosse cruises to win over Souhegan

PORTSMOUTH – It was last June when Souhegan gave the Portsmouth High School girls lacrosse team all it could handle in the Division I semifinals.

While the Sabers are still working in some new faces early into this season heading into Monday night’s contest, the defending-champion Clippers are already looking like the team to beat once again.

Portsmouth jumped out to a 5-0 lead to open the game and never looked back on the way to a 16-6 victory on Tom Daubney Field.

“In the past three games, we’ve had slow starts, so this was definitely a goal for us, to come out strong and play from the first whistle,” Portsmouth coach JoJo Curro said. “This was one game where we played hard to every single whistle, so as a coach I loved it.”

The game marked the next chapter in the sibling coaching matchup between Curro and her sister, Souhegan coach McKinley Curro-Sbordone. Portsmouth (4-0, No. 1 in the MerchSquared.com/NHHSSports Coaches Poll) has won eight of their nine meetings, including that 12-10 decision in last year's semifinal, en route to the Clippers winning the championship game a couple of days later against Bishop Guertin.

With six new players to varsity, Curro-Sbordone’s squad is still working on the chemistry, but she feels Souhegan (2-1, No. 3) is on the right path.

“We’re super young, so I was actually glad we were tested this early to gauge where we’re at and what we need to work on,” Curro-Sbordone said. “We have a ton of promising freshmen but they’re young, it’s three weeks into the season. I know we’ll be primed for the end of the season. (Monday) wasn’t a reflection of our skill, it’s just our maturity level right now.”

Portsmouth displayed its balanced–and dangerous– attack by using seven goal scorers. Sophomore Emery Lawton led the Clippers with four goals, while junior Lily Patterson added three goals.

“Our entire team is unselfish and that helps a lot,” Lawton said. “We have a lot of assisted goals and we’re working off the ball if it’s not an assisted goal. That’s something that sets us apart and creates balance because everyone is trying to make everyone else look good.”

Emery Lawton started with her twin sister, Reagan, last year as freshmen.

“Emery did a great job and I think a lot of people stepped up,” Curro said. “There was no lull. Our middies were playing hard and they were playing hard at both ends of the field. Emery had a great game.”

Junior Ginger Vinciguerra began the day’s scoring before being followed by Patterson, Morgan Ruhnke, and the Lawtons to give Portsmouth a 5-0 lead before Izzy Stevenson scored for Souhegan late in the first quarter.

Addie Delisle whipped around for a goal midway through the second quarter and was followed by tallies from Vinciguerra and Patterson to give Portsmouth a 9-3 halftime cushion.

“We don’t usually get the first goal but we really wanted it (Monday),” Patterson said. “We don’t really have any weaknesses on the field. I feel like we have a lot more confidence as a team because it’s essentially the same people that we had last year.”

Portsmouth may have only two seniors in Ruhnke, a first-team All-State selection, and defender Abby Stacy, but the majority of this roster won it all a year ago.

“Everyone stepped it up, everyone played with their heads up and making that extra and they’re really distributing the ball all over, which makes it hard to defend because if you take away one person, the other side has been open,” Curro said. “The girls have the confidence to take it themselves or make that pass.”