Pembroke’s meat grinder defense chewed the young ConVal attack down to almost nothing Wednesday as the visiting Spartans eliminated the Cougars from the Division II boys’ lacrosse tournament with a 6-3 win.
“Most of our offense are freshmen and sophomores, so we have a amazing JV offense,” head coach Terry McNamara said, “but in terms of be ready for facing up against varsity defenses, we’ve been a low-scoring team the whole season, which means we really need to execute.”
ConVal got first-half goals from Ethan Weber and Eric McGrath and held the Spartans relatively in check, with a last-second Pembroke goal putting the visitors up 3-2 at the half. But ConVal wouldn’t score again until the final minutes, as Pembroke smothered freshman scoring leader Ronan McNamara, holding him to one late goal, and the Cougars struggled to execute their offense.
“I told our defense and our goalie, they’re doing their job,” coach McNamara said. “I think we just need to bring it up a notch on offense. So that’s really going to be our focus next season. We definitely made progress, but I think as our stick handling gets more confident, we’re going to have, you know, offensive possessions ending in goals rather than turnovers.”
Goalie Nick Squatitro made 16 saves in the game, and Alex Heck (team-high five ground balls) did well clearing the ball and setting up offensive opportunities. The Cougars don’t have a true faceoff specialist, but Kell McMahon had the clamp going in the circle for ConVal, coach McNamara said, even though the team had difficulty coming up with the ensuing ground balls.
After the game, the Cougars circled up and shared two things they’d done well in the day’s game or over the course of the season, and one thing they plan on improving before next spring.
ConVal finished the year at 4-6.
Bow 10, ConVal 0
ConVal couldn’t overcome the tough pitching of Bow’s Hannah McGonigle Wednesday, suffering a shutout in the Division II tournament preliminary round.
ConVal threatened in the second, but pitcher Lily Mandel was thrown out at the plate; the Cougars loaded the bases in the sixth but couldn’t come through.
Mandel threw a complete game, striking out six.
Morgan Bemont, Mary Hulslander, Rylee Blanchette and Mandel had hits for ConVal (6-7).
Mascenic 6, Bishop Brady 4
The Vikings scored four runs in the final frame of Wednesday’s Division III tournament game to secure a comeback victory and advance to the quarterfinal round.
Bishop Brady walked two batters to open the top of the seventh and then made three straight errors before Ella Pearson’s two-run single put the Vikings on top.
Mascenic trailed 4-0 early in the game before Delaney Traffie’s two-run single in the fifth.
Katalina Davis threw four innings, allowing four earned runs before Lyla Buxton came in and threw three scoreless innings for the win.
Mascenic (14-2) is at Hopkinton for a quarterfinal game Saturday at noon. The Hawks eliminated the Vikings in the quarterfinals of the 2019 tournament thanks to a gem from pitcher Megan Kimball-Rhines, Saturday’s expected starter.
Sunapee 22, WLC 10
The Warriors’ only senior, Tiffany Cuddihy, had a career day against rival Sunapee, going 3-4 with two doubles, two RBI and a stolen base, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the mighty Lakers.
“Overall it was our best game,” head coach Scott Dowling said, “and the team never gave up!”
WLC was down 6-0 and 12-5 in the game before rallying to make it 12-10 Sunapee going into the final inning, where the Lakers put up 10 runs to finish the job.
Emily Dubois and Ryleigh Smith pitched for the Warriors.
Adri Bausha (2 2B, RBI), Bri Fish (2 2B, 2 RBI) and Abby Dowling (3B) had big hits for WLC.
“Even in defeat, they held th
ConVal 16, Manchester Memorial-West 3
Twelve different players scored for ConVal Tuesday as the Cougars put the visitors into running time in the first half on their way to an easy Division II tournament win.
Julia Donovan, Caitlin Beal, Anna Taylor and Molly Dishong scored two goals each.
ConVal held MM-W to just six shots on goal.
The Cougars (8-4) have won five straight games and host Pembroke in the quarterfinals Saturday at 3 p.m.
Gilford 5, Conant 4
It could have gone either way, Conant coach Gloria Morison said, but the Orioles lost their closely contested Division III semifinal match with Gilford on Wednesday to conclude their season.
Margaret Winiecki and Sarah Smith both won 8-1 to set the tone for Conant in singles and teamed for an 8-3 doubles win, but the Orioles couldn’t muster another singles win.
Abby Wheeler (8-6), Emily Muilenberg (8-1), Bella Hart (8-2) and Kaia Colby (8-1) all fell in singles.
Wheeler and Muilenberg won at doubles, 8-1, but Gilford knocked off Colby and Katherine Weidner in the final doubles contest to put the match away.
Gilford plays Littleton for the state title Friday.
“It has been a great season and, as always, a learning experience for the team and for me as a coach,” Morison said after her first season coaching the Orioles.