Souhegan girls lacrosse gets top seed with win over Pinkerton

AMHERST - Jocelyn Donohue figured that if the Pinkerton Academy girls lacrosse team was going to try to take away as many of Souhegan's offensive options as it could Thursday, someone was going to be open for a big night.

That turned out to be the case, and that someone was Donohue.

The Souhegan senior scored six goals, including two in a span of 26 seconds in the second half that gave the Sabers a two-goal lead, as they held on to beat the Astros 14-13 in the Division I regular-season finale for both teams.

"We have seven awesome offensive players and when you take two away, you've got five more," Donohue said. "They were marking Mickenzie (Larivee) and Maddie (Learned) and that left me a spot and I took it. (Thursday) was my night. Next time, I'd expect them to take me away and that will open up the others. It's always someone."

Despite getting double teamed at times, Larivee had five goals and three assists while Jesse Jay added two goals and two assists and Learned finished with a goal and two helpers.

Going in, the Sabers (16-2) expected Pinkerton to try to slow down someone, and they had a couple of plans depending on who it was.

"We knew that Pinkerton was probably going to focus on Madison Learned and Mickenzie Larivee, so we had a Plan B and a Plan C and a Plan D," Souhegan coach Maren Petropulos said. "We needed other kids to step up and Jocelyn Donohue stepped up in a huge way."

Although the Sabers had the advantage in possession and draw controls, the Astros (15-3) were still almost able to pull off the comeback. Down four goals with 18 minutes to play, Pinkerton tied the game at 11 with 12:41 to go, and tied it against at 12 with 7:45 to play.

Maggie McCarthy (three goals) made it a one-goal game with 27.8 seconds left, but Souhegan won the ensuing draw and Pinkerton couldn't get the ball back until 1.5 seconds remained.

"They definitely took the draws," Pinkerton coach Rob Daziel said. "It's a game of draws  between two good teams, you've got to get possession."

Kennedy Daziel six goals to lead the Astros, while goalie Sarah Lambert made six saves, including a couple early in the game that kept things from getting out of hand.

The Sabers won the game's first three draws and took their time on offense, trying to see what was open against Pinkerton's defense. Despite Souhegan's advantage in possession, the score was tied at 3, at 4 and at 5 before the Sabers went on a 4-0 run to take an 8-5 lead.

The Astros got two goals in the final 1:41 of the half to cut the lead to one at halftime, but Souhegan opened the second half with a stretch of three goals in 50 seconds to take an 11-7 lead.

"We had been trying to slow down the attack and be patient, because we tend to be run-and-gun," Petropulos said. "It was a great matchup and a great game to play at the end of the season."

The win gave the Sabers the No. 1 seed in the tournament, which begins on Wednesday, while Pinkerton will be the No. 2 seed - the same spots they were in last year, when the Astros beat Souhegan in the Division I title game.

"We only play them once for whatever reason," Daziel said. "It was a good game and we kept it close. It'll be anybody's game next time."