Souhegan girls lacrosse fights off Nashua South to get win

NASHUA - It didn’t matter that the Souhegan High School girls lacrosse team had to play down a player for 17 minutes of the game.

It didn’t matter that Nashua South kept battling back and staying competitive.

All that mattered was that Souhegan had the best player on the field and everyone fed off her.

Led by eight goals from Taylor Clark, the Sabers came back from an early deficit and held off a late rally to defeat the Panthers 14-10 in a Division I game at Stellos Stadium.

“We certainly didn’t come out like we did a week ago here (in an 11-8 loss against Bishop Guertin),” Souhegan coach Maren Petropulos said. “We didn’t play well against Exeter (on April 26), so that wasn’t a great game from us either. It was nice to see us pull ahead.”

The Panthers (6-3) led 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2, but could never build a lead and Souhegan made them pay before halftime.

The Sabers scored four straight goals and opened a 6-4 lead at half. Souhegan (6-1) would increase the lead to as many as five, and never trailed.

A big reason for that was the Sabers’ ability to distribute the ball. Even with Clark putting up huge numbers the Sabers still had four players score, as O’Neill Galinson and Savannah Behn each had two goals for the Sabers.

“We’ve been kind of learning how to work more as a team, and that’s why we’re doing as well as we are at this point of the season,” Clark said. “We had to put some in the net and I kind of stepped up there.”

Clare Woodford was a key piece of the Souhegan attack with a goal and three assists.

“Clare’s a great player,” Petropulos said. “She could probably run as a mid, but we are keeping her down on attack because she’s so scrappy. She sees stuff before it develops. She’s a real solid player.”

Nashua South got three goals and two assists from Kirsten McIntire, and the Panthers made it close late. The Panthers scored three goals in a 53-second span with just over a minute remaining to close the gap to three, but a Clark goal put a bow on the victory for the Sabers.

Additionally, the Sabers won where hustle was needed. Souhegan won draws 13-10 and ground balls 20-15. The Souhegan ride was fantastic in forcing 14 South turnovers.

“I think we had some success (Tuesday) with the draw and that’s probably the weakest part of our game,” Petropulos said. “We need to fix our draw before we move forward. They’re kind of an enigma sometimes because we’re not sure what team is going to show up.”