Senior class helped take Portsmouth boys lacrosse to new heights

The Portsmouth High School boys lacrosse team had been knocking on the door to a championship for a few years, but just couldn't get all the way to the top.

In 2015 and 2016, the Clippers made it to the final four in Division II, but came up short of the final.

The next two seasons saw Portsmouth reach the title game, but lose each time to Derryfield.

And in 2019, it was another trip to the semifinals, where the Clippers fell in overtime to Winnacunnet.

Then, after losing the 2020 season, last year brought in a group of kids who may not have had much varsity experience, but they had plenty of experience doing something else - winning.

Over the last two years, Portsmouth's senior class helped the program to a 39-2 overall record, and after a 16-10 win over Derryfield in the D2 final on June 12, two straight division championships.

"These kids, this senior group, they don’t know anything but winning," Portsmouth coach Chad Vischer said. "Their whole career, they’ve lost like six to eight games their entire lives, as a team. They were undefeated as a JV team (in 2019) and COVID knocked out a year. Back in youth, they won four states."

Some of them had been playing together even longer than that.

"I’ve got guys I remember playing with when we were 5 or 6 years old," Portsmouth senior Dom Maldari said. "We can barely pass and catch, and now to be out here, playing in a state championship, back-to-back and winning it, it’s super special. I think winning with these guys means more than just winning any personal awards."

That familiarity with each other, especially when it came to the offensive end, helped throughout the year and in the title game. Maldari, along with fellow seniors Mike O'Neil, Keghan Myers and Dylan Roelofs, combined for nine of the Clippers' goals, and on defense, it was Max Brown and goalie Skyler Mikolaities leading the way.

"It’s the culmination of lots of hard work and we know each other really, really well," Maldari said. "We know each other’s tendencies really, really well. I think when you have a bond like that on and off the field, when you get on the field, it makes the team perform well."

With all the wins the Clippers strung together, Visher wondered at times during the season, how they would react when met with some adversity. They found that out early in the title game and bounced back accordingly.

"These kids don’t know defeat, which can be concerning, because when you get popped in the mouth, how are you going to react," Vischer said. "Derryfield did that, they popped us. They got the first goal. We’re not going to be able to just run away with this win. We’ve got to be ready to grind and we did."

While Vischer knows next year will look a lot different for Portsmouth - the Clippers lose 16 seniors from 2022 - the players coming up will now know what it looks like to get to that next level.

"You can’t ignore the work those previous classes had done," Maldari said. "They made a really solid foundation for us to come in to work off, to learn what the expectation of Portsmouth lacrosse is, and to build off that. When we were able to build off that, we’re able to get to games like this and get the results that we want."