Souhegan girls lacrosse rallies late to best Londonderry (video)

LONDONDERRY - There was really only one thing the Souhegan High School girls lacrosse team had to do coming down the stretch Monday against Londonderry.

Be patient.

After getting into a shootout with the Lancers in the first half, the Sabers were able to slow the pace more in the second, ending the game on a 4-0 run to pull out an 11-10 victory over Londonderry in a Division I contest.

Elle Stevenson tied the game with 3:45 remaining and Cali Bishop won it on a goal with 1:43 to play, and Souhegan controlled the final draw and was able to run out the clock to pick up its fifth win in a row. Both goals came with Londonderry down a player after the Lancers drew two yellow cards in the final four minutes.

"Londonderry is a very athletic team," said Souhegan assistant coach Linda Haytayan, who was filling in for head coach McKinley Curro. "We do work on the mental side of coming back like that and they executed it with composure. Bring the offense out wide, settle the ball. Gather our composure and put some plays into action. If they fall short, we have a plan B."

Stevenson finished with three goals for the Sabers (10-4), including two in the game's final 11 minutes. Abby Hawkes added two goals and an assist while Bishop and Lyla Kimball each had two goals. Margot Manz had a goal and an assist and Kenzie Cretsinger also scored while Shannon Hargreaves made eight saves.

Londonderry (9-5) got three goals from Caroline Leone, with her final goal giving the Lancers a 10-7 lead with 16:05 remaining in the game. Emily Cowette scored twice and Lilah Melia added a goal and two assists while Izzy Augusta, Kiara Edmunds and Tara Wright also had a goal each for Londonderry. Riley Walter finished with six saves.

"We have known what these girls are capable of all season and we’ve seen spurts of it, but that was 50 minutes of intensity," Londonderry coach Kelly Gordon said. "I told the girls, there are some games that you lose that don’t feel like a loss because you left everything on the field. This is one of those games. I think the girls felt they were coming in as underdogs. It was a great game for them to realize that they can compete."

The Lancers came out with a lot of energy, and despite falling behind 3-1 early, they kept it up throughout the first half. Londonderry came back to tie it at 3, and after Souhegan went up 5-4, the Lancers scored three straight to take a 7-5 lead.

Wright scored with seven seconds left in the first half to make it 8-6 Londonderry going into halftime, and to that point, the Lancers had dominated the draw, winning 12 of 15 in the first 25 minutes.

"We had to make some adjustments that we’re not used to making," Haytayan said. "We put players in different positions and they did a great job of chipping away. They came out with super high energy and we came out flat. I told them at halftime we have to match their energy, at least, and deflate it."

Leone opened the second half with a goal just 18 seconds into give the Lancers a 9-6 lead, and after Cretsinger scored to make it a two-goal game four minutes later, Leone added Londonderry's final goal.

The defenses stepped up after that, as neither team recorded a shot and possession went back and forth. Manz and Stevenson scored two minutes apart to cut Londonderry's lead to 10-9 with 10:13 remaining and the Lancers took a timeout.

It looked like Londonderry was going to extend the lead again, but Hargreaves was able to get a piece of a rising shot to send it over the goal. Souhegan eventually got the ball back and worked to set up the tying goal.

Stevenson tied it with 3:45 to play and Souhegan won the ensuing draw, but turned the ball over. The Lancers had a chance to take the lead, but committed a turnover of their own with a little more than two minutes left, setting up Bishop's game-winning goal.

The Sabers won the draw again, and with Londonderry down a player, the Lancers were unable to put on enough pressure to regain possession.

"We were down a player so we were trying to pressure the ball, but the girls wanted to stay in a zone," Gordon said. "We weren’t used to being in that situation. Definitely some things to clean up, but they’re all small things."

The two teams will meet again at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Souhegan.