Souhegan girls lacrosse comes back to beat Pinkerton in OT in D1 semis (video)

EXETER - Izzy Stevenson felt like she had been doing too much thinking during Sunday's Division I girls lacrosse semifinal.

With the sophomore's Souhegan High School team trailing Pinkerton Academy by three goals with just over seven minutes remaining, she decided to let loose.

It couldn't have come at a better time, as Stevenson scored three goals in three minutes to tie the game, and in overtime, she found teammate Libby Kennedy for the game winner to give the No. 3 Sabers a 9-8 win over the No. 2 Astros at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

The win sends Souhegan to the final for the first time since 2017, which was also the last time the Sabers won the D1 title. They'll face No. 1 Portsmouth at 5 p.m. Tuesday, also at Bill Ball Stadium.

"I just wanted that win," Stevenson said. "I wanted to go to the championship. Earlier I was just thinking too much. I really need to be loose with my shots. The only thing I had in my mind in the fourth quarter was get it in."

Stevenson finished with three goals and an assist while Kennedy and Lanai Hickman both scored twice. Emmy Curran and Averie Curran also had a goal apiece and Abby Giannetti had an assist for Souhegan (14-3).

"I am incredibly proud," Souhegan coach McKinley Curro-Sbordone said. "We have a relatively young team, but to be able to claw back and fight, and tie it up. Izzy Stevenson put our team on her back, and she wanted that win so bad, and everyone was behind her."

Pinkerton (16-4) got three goals and an assist from Delaney Summers and Hannah Lisauskas had two goals and an assist while being the focal point of the Sabers' defense.

"We tried to change up the game plan a little bit, just because Lisauskas is such a good distributor with the ball," Curro-Sbordone said. "She creates so much chaos on offense. She’s their playmaker. We tried to displace that and it didn’t always work to our advantage. Delaney Summers showed up huge all season long for them."

Elise Collins also had a goal and an assist while Sookie Folsom and Francesca Doyle had a goal apiece.

The Astros were forced to play most of the game without Doyle, as the junior picked up her second yellow card with 2:25 remaining in the first half. It was also Pinkerton's third card of the game, meaning one more would have put them a player down the rest of the game.

"It sucks losing a player like Franny for the game, especially in the first half," Pinkerton coach Katie Bourque said. "Cards are part of the game of lacrosse. You’ve got to learn to adjust and go off it, and someone else has got to step up.

"It’s not fun to lose. The kids fought hard, both teams fought hard. Lacrosse is a game of runs. We had runs, they had their run at the end."

It was a 1-1 game for most of the first quarter but Pinkerton went up on a goal by Collins with 1.7 seconds left on the clock. Summers scored 57 seconds into the second to give the Astros a 3-1 lead, but Souhegan came back to tie it 3-3 and that's where it stood at halftime.

It was 6-5 Astros going into the fourth when Summers and Folsom scored back-to-back goals to give Pinkerton a three-goal lead with 7:27 remaining.

Stevenson scored her first goal with 3:38 remaining and Bourque took a timeout. The Sabers got the draw out of the break and Stevenson scored again, this time with 2:24 to go, to make it 8-7.

Souhegan won the draw again, and this time, Stevenson was awarded a free-position opportunity. Pinkerton goalie Sara DiClemente (eight saves) came up with the stop, but the Astros lost the ball on the clear, with Kennedy coming up with it.

She quickly got the ball to Stevenson, who made her way through a pair of defenders to get to the goal and tie the game with 37 seconds left in regulation.

"I was like, I need to get through these people and get to that net," she said. "I need to score."

The Sabers controlled the draw again, but time ran out before either team had a chance to score, sending it to overtime.

Pinkerton won the draw to start the extra session and the Astros worked the ball around, trying to set up the best look they could. Summers got one, but her shot sailed just over the crossbar.

The Astros had the backup in place and got another look, but this time, Souhegan goalie Emma Crisman came up with the stop. Souhegan cleared the ball quickly, and moments later, Stevenson lofted a pass over the first layer of the Pinkerton defense to find Kennedy for the winning score with 18.4 seconds remaining in overtime.

"Sometimes it’s easy to get complacent on offense," Curro-Sbordone said. "(Stevenson) was hungry for it. The momentum was ours. When Libby got that feed in the middle, I knew, that’s her bread and butter."