July 29, 2011
Bishop Guertin boys, Londonderry girls reign in NH
by Phillip Shore/
Bishop Guertin's Casey Burnett (from left), Connor Donahue and Matt Thistle celebrate a goal vs. Pinkerton en route to another state title. (photo: Nadja Martin)
High school lacrosse at the Division 1 level in New Hampshire continues to play out like a broken record. The same teams dominate the headlines and selfishly keep the state championship only for themselves.
Since 2005, one of the schools from the boys trio of Bishop Guertin, Pinkerton Academy and Hanover has been the top-ranked team in New Hampshire, according to LaxPower.com, and at least one, if not two, have played in the state championship game. Add in Exeter and you have your usual top four teams and semifinalists. It’s like an exclusive party.
It was no different this year.
Pinkerton was No. 1 in the ratings and beat Exeter in the semifinals, 10-7, while Bishop Guertin was No. 2 and defeated Hanover, 15-6, to reach the championship game for the seventh consecutive season.
Despite four All-Americans graduating in 2010 and losing more than five games for the first time since 2007, Bishop Guertin (14-7) handed Pinkerton (19-1) its first loss of the season, 11-8, en route to its second consecutive state title and fourth in the past seven years. The victory avenged an earlier 8-7 loss to Pinkerton, the Cardinals’ first loss to the Astros in five years.
The championship game was as tight as one would expect between these two teams, going into halftime tied at 6. Cardinals junior Paul Spinney scored all three of his goals, a team-high, in the third quarter to give Bishop Guertin the edge.
The future continues to look bright for the Cardinals with eight of the team’s 11 goals in the finals coming from underclassmen, as well as starting a junior in goal and three juniors on defense, including captain Bob Fahey.
In girls’ Div. 1, Londonderry didn’t finish undefeated like it did in 2010 but still won the state title, its third consecutive championship. The last girls’ Div. 1 three-peat champion was 2011 runner-up Concord (2000-02).
If not for Londonderry, Concord probably would have been the best girls team in New Hampshire this year. The Crimson Tide (15-4) was the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and three of their four losses came against the Lancers.
Concord pushed Londonderry to the limit in the finals but ultimately fell, 10-9. The Crimson Tide had a chance to tie the game on a free-position shot awarded with 21 seconds remaining, but Lancers goalie Sarah Ford made a big save on Jenna Tewskbury’s shot to cinch the victory.
The big question next year will be how Londonderry responds to a new coach, as sixth-year head man Bob Slater stepped down at season’s end to further concentrate on his concrete business. Pinkerton, runner-up in 2009 and 2010, had a disappointing year in 2011, finishing 10-8 and failing to reach the semifinals.
While the status quo was maintained in Div. 1, the rest of the New Hampshire lacrosse scene was full of change.
In boys’ Div. 2, Bow and its seniors failed to run the table and win a fourth consecutive championship. The Falcons finished 14-3, but could not get past 2011 champion Dover, which avenged a 2009 loss in the title game to get a chance to play for the crown this year.
The Green Wave (16-3) handed the Falcons their first loss in the regular season and then defeated them once again in the semifinals. In the championship game, they faced Souhegan — a Div. 1 school in 2010 — who edged out the previous season’s runner-up, Bedford, 13-12, in the other semifinal.
The championship was a thriller and wasn’t decided until the final second of the game, when Dylan Stohrer, headed to Keene State next year, scored to give the Green Wave the 8-7 victory.
No boys team in Div. 3 has won consecutive titles since Laconia three-peated from 2003 to 2005. In 2011, it was Hopkinton’s turn to be king for a year. The Hawks finished the season 14-2, handed Kearsarge its only loss of the season in the semifinals, and defeated Gilford (who beat Pelham, 7-6, in the semis) in the title game by a score of 8-6.
The Bow girls’ team had won the Div. 2 title in every odd-numbered year since 2003 (’03, ’05, ’07 and ’09). The trend did not continue in 2011. The Falcons (11-5) not only missed the championship game for the second straight season (they had played in the title game five straight years prior), but they also failed to play in the semifinals.
This season, instead, belonged to Portsmouth. Runners-up last year and New England Lacrosse Journal’s preseason pick to be “Ready for the next step,” the Clippers (18-2) ended the season as the top-ranked team in Div. 2 and avenged last year’s title game loss to Bishop Guertin with not one but two victories, including a 16-14 win in the semifinals. Portsmouth advanced to the championship game, where it beat Merrimack — ranked second in the standings with a 16-3 record — by a score of 19-14.
It was the first championship for Portsmouth since it won back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008 and it may not be the last. Ten of the 22 players on the Clippers’ roster this season were sophomores, including their two leading scorers, Emily Whitney and Devon Parker.
In Div. 3 girls’ action, Plymouth enjoyed the best season of its short four-year existence, improving from 7-7 in 2010 to 15-2, with its first-ever state championship.
It may have helped matters that two-time defending champion Hollis-Brookline moved to Div. 1, but Plymouth played well all season. A good all-around team, the new champions scored 20-plus goals in four games and scored at least 15 goals eight times. Defensively, Plymouth allowed only double digits in goals six times.
Kingswood was the runner-up, losing to Plymouth in the final, 14-9.
The Knights beat 2008 and ’09 runner-up Kearsarge, 9-8, in one semifinal, while Plymouth defeated Hopkinton, 13-6, in the other.
This article originally appeared in the July 2011 issue of New England Lacrosse Journal.
Phillip Shore can be reached at feedback@laxjournal.com
