Souhegan girls lacrosse rolls past Bedford (video)

AMHERST - The Souhegan High School girls lacrosse team had been waiting for Tuesday's game against Bedford for a while.

The Sabers used their time wisely, working on several things in practice they hoped to execute in the game, and on senior night against the Bulldogs, they were able to.

Souhegan ended the first half on a 7-0 run to take a six-goal lead into the break and ended the game with four unanswered goals to beat Bedford 14-4. The win means that if the Sabers beat Bishop Guertin on Thursday, they'll end up as the No. 1 seed in Division I for the fourth year in a row.

Brigid Casey led Souhegan (15-2) with six goals and an assist while Emma Estabrook had three goals and Sammi Jay had two goals and three assists. Meaghan Allard made 11 saves, eight of which came in the first half, allowing the Sabers to go on their run.

"In between (games), you try to work on things that you think will benefit you in future tough games," Souhegan coach Maren Petropulos said. "We've been doing that and the girls have been conscientious and conscious of what we needed to do.

"Our defending and our midfield defense I thought in the first half was huge. That's all things we've been working on. I think the kids just really played like a team (Tuesday)."

Souhegan also got a goal and two assists from Abby Cranney while Taylor Clark (assist) and Haily Johnson also had a goal each.

Hannah McCarthy led Bedford (14-2) with two goals while Brooke Burdon and Mackenzie Chou also scored. Erika Fortune added two assists and goalie Emily Burton made 13 saves.

"Emily (Burton) played really well and I thought our defense played really well," Bedford coach Christine Hodgdon said. "We played a lot of defense, almost too much defense (in the first half). You can't overcome a run like that against a high-caliber team like that."

McCarthy got the scoring started for Bedford, getting a goal with 16:51 left in the first half while the Bulldogs were a man down. The Sabers wasted little time responding, as Jay got the groundball off the draw, outran the defense down the field and beat Burton to tie the game just 13 seconds later.

Souhegan was able to control the draw, winning 11 of 18, and in the first half, that allowed the Sabers to keep possession for long stretches. And when the Sabers didn't get the ball in the first half, Allard was making stops at the other end.

"(Allard) was all over the place, was reading our shots, and one of the things we didn't do early on was try to move her and I think that probably got in our head a little bit," Hodgdon said. "We just didn't adjust early on and stuck with the same pattern that wasn't working for us."

The Sabers led 7-1 at halftime, thanks to a couple of big saves by Allard before the break, and went up 8-1 to open the second half. Bedford was able to get within six goals, 10-4, with seven minutes left, but Souhegan ended the game on a 4-0 run.

"Sometimes we're a first-half team and sometimes we're a second-half team," Petropulos said. "Aside from our shooting in the second half, we put two halves together. We were a little fearful of their draws because they had a lot of success against BG. We've been working on the draw and getting off the line. It's great to have your senior night and come off with a win against a great team."