The Pinkerton Academy girls’ lacrosse squad saw its 2015 record move to 4-2 overall with a 12-10 loss that was followed almost immediately by a 12-10 victory.
The Lady Astros faced off against the undefeated Souhegan High stickers from Amherst in a rematch of the last two Division I title contests in Derry Friday, April 24. But where the Pinkerton crew bested the Lady Sabers in the two championship contests, Souhegan gained a modicum of revenge by beating Pinkerton’s 3-2 crew in that most recent regular season meeting by a 12-10 tally.
The next morning the Lady Astros played host to the rival Londonderry High Lady Lancers in Beeman Trophy competition, winning that battle by a 12-10 tally.
In the loss, the 6-0 Lady Sabers led 7-3 at halftime, but the academy girls managed to outscore their guests by a 7-5 tally in the second half. However, the locals were unable to come all the way back for the win.
Maggie McCarthy netted four goals in the losing effort for PA, Colby Millsaps contributed three, Amanda Szostak was good for two, Micaela Capozzo had a goal and an assist, and Nola Wesche and Avery Drouin each notched one assist. Goalie Kyra Goucher contributed six saves to the performance.
But the Lady Astros turned it around on their home field the next day when they knocked off the Lady Lancers.
The Lady Astros led 7-4 at halftime, but coach Rob Daziel wasn’t overly happy with the work of his crew during the first half and he made that abundantly clear to his girls during their halftime chat.
“Their efforts to support each other had to be improved,” said the coach following the match. “We have to play as a team to be successful, and they weren’t doing that well enough in the first half.”
But the academy bunch built its lead up to five goals at 11-6 with 15 minutes remaining in the contest, forcing Londonderry into a timeout.
The Lady Lancers responded well to coach Bob Slater’s adjustments and pep talk and scored four of the last five goals of the game. But a full comeback was not to be for the visitors.
Pinkerton received four goals and one assist from Capozzo, four goals from McCarthy, and single tallies from Szostak, Dani Tompkins, Millsaps, and Drouin.
And goalie Goucher did superb work for the winning side, making nine big saves her clutch contribution to the PA success.
“In the second half we started to ride a lot better, and we slowed them down when they tried to come out of their own zone,” said Daziel.
