Bow focused on rising past rest of D3 girls lacrosse

The back-and-forth battle that went on last season between the girls lacrosse teams from Hopkinton and Bow high schools left the Falcons on the wrong end of a Division III championship game.

Despite losing some talented seniors, Bow looks poised to not only make another run to the title game, but the Falcons want to go home with the top prize this time.

Standing in their way is a D3 that looks as deep as its every been, with plenty of teams ready to make a deep run in June. Among those teams are the Hawks, last year’s champ, which lost a lot of talent to graduation and transfers to prep school, but like Bow, has some top talent coming back.

Gilford made a surprise run to the final four last year with a young, talented group, and many of them return to try to take it step further. St. Thomas and Pelham also have a large group of returning players in the mix who are looking to improve on playoff appearances from a year ago.

Derryfield is always a contender and Concord Christian, which will be playing its first season as a varsity program, could surprise a lot of teams along the way.

This will be the first season in which more than eight teams make the postseason in all three divisions, and with 16 in D3, that means 11 teams will make the playoffs, with the top five receiving a bye into the quarterfinals.

Here’s a look at the teams in D3 this season, listed alphabetically.

• Bishop Brady (1-13 in 2022): The Giants have a new coach in Alex Sacco, who played at and graduated from Bishop Brady in 2017. She’ll have a solid group of juniors returning, with Finley Hollenberg and Lydia Tremblay back on attack and Luzia Detwiller and Morgan Casey back at midfield. Seniors Gabrielle Heck (midfield) and Megan Pellerin (attack) join the varsity as does goalie Kiara Herrington.
• Bow (16-2): The Falcons have a solid core returning, led at midfield by senior Alex Larrabee, juniors Olivia Selleck, Kendall Murray, Juliette Tarsa and Maia Kimball, and sophomores Mikayla Livingstone and Kylie McKee. Sophomores Ella Gray and Katie McGovern are back on attack while seniors Lyndsey LaPerle, Bella LaPerle and Elena Roy and juniors Kate Labrecque and Sidney Roberge return on defense.
• Campbell (10-6): The Cougars are coming off the best season in the program’s history, but they saw seven seniors graduate from that team. This year, Campbell will look to senior midfielder Kristina Castellano to help lead the way, along with senior defenders Sophia Almeida, Phoebe Drouin and Emma Leclercq. Sophomore Callie Hoover also returns at midfield while senior Avery Fay is back on attack and sophomore goalie Rania Chaudhry returns. Sophomore Kelsi Watkins will step in on attack and freshman Maddie Couvellier will see time at midfield.
• Coe-Brown (4-10 in D2): The Bears make the move back down to D3 for this two-year cycle with a handful of seniors returning. Leading the way are midfielder Riley Jackson and midfielder/attack Riley Trahant, while Ava Telehala and Lillian Wotton will see time at midfield and defense. Junior Fae Johnson and sophomore Olivia Wolthuis are also back on defense while sophomore goalie Alexis Muse also returns. Junior Libby Cillo and sophomore Carolyn Clawson return at attack.
• Concord Christian (NA, 1st varsity season): The Kingsmen will play their first season as a varsity program this year. Leading the way will be junior Megan Muir at midfield and senior Lauren Winans and junior Taylor Rioux on defense. Sophomore Abby Owens returns in goal while senior Ella Baker joins the team at attack and freshman Sarah Muir will see time at midfield.
• Derryfield (10-4): The Cougars enter the year with a new coach, as former assistant Erin Boucher steps up to the head coach position. She’ll have a good core of returning players, led by seniors Christine Nadeau (midfield) and Alyssa Shula (defense). Also returning at midfield are junior Lilly Handwerk and sophomore Chloe Bremberg while freshman midfielder Teagan Peabody will also contribute. Sophomore Lily Kfoury returns at goalie.
• Gilford (14-3)
• Hopkinton (16-1): The Hawks only graduated five seniors from last year’s team, but also saw two other players transfer. Hopkinton still has a handful of returns, including senior captain Rose Finlayson at attack, where she’ll be joined by sophomore Sydney Westover and freshman Maeve Owens. Signe Hogbloom (senior), Shelby Olkonen (junior), Hannah Smith (junior), Louise Behner (sophomore) and Lilly Chodosh (freshman) will give the Hawks depth on offense. Juniors Sarah Chodosh and Katie Brown will lead the way at midfield, along with freshmen Ava Burns and Marcella Guadagno. Senior captain Amelia Lynch will lead defensively and will be joined by juniors Elizabeth Trafton and Izzy Afflerback, sophomore Ryan Lang and freshman Helen Yeaton. Senior Ana Horakova and freshman Rylee Magnin will also see time on defense while freshman Hallee Schoch steps in to play goalie.
• Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough (6-8): The Lakers have a roster of just 15 this season, but nine of them are returning players and three incoming freshmen have played at the youth level. Leading the way will be senior captains Katie Velie and Elise Stewart while fellow seniors Hannah Pratt, Julie Marra, Kate De Tolla and Maddie Colby also are back for ILMA. Junior Hayley Doda returns in goal after picking up the position a year ago, while sophomores Lola Ferrante and Lianna Keenan look to improve on successful freshmen seasons. This year, freshmen Estelle Goode, Stevie Poehler and Brooke Taylor will be looked at to contribute while three multi-sport athletes, senior Joscelyn Boucher, sophomore Jen Madigan and freshman Emily Doda, will be picking up lacrosse for the first time.
• Kearsarge (7-7): The Cougars lost nine seniors to graduation, but have a trio of seniors returning to lead the way – Valerie Soule, Adison Whitty and Maya Spiegel. Also back are junior Adara Boucher and sophomore Tori Wooten.
• Laconia (5-9)
• Lebanon (9-6)
• Milford (3-10)
• Pelham (8-7): The Pythons return all but four players from last year’s playoff team, with strong leadership from captains Taylor Galgay (senior, attack), Hannah Cook (senior, defense), Hannah Deschene (senior, midfield) and Kate Burke (junior, midfield). The defense also has senior Lia Brettin and juniors Zoe Maxwell and Makayla Cruz returning while midfielders Carlee Sloan (senior) and Sophia Joncas (junior) are back. Freshman Ella DeSimone will look to contribute on attack.
• Plymouth (4-11) 
• St. Thomas (9-7): For the second year in a row, the Saints saw their season end at the hands of the eventual division champ. This year, St. Thomas has enough returning to make another run to the postseason behind an offense that returns juniors Megan Leahy (attack), Katherine Dornan (midfield) and Catherine Vetter (midfield). Sophomores Kenlsey Harris (attack) and Reece Anderson (midfield) are also back while sophomore Hannah Henderson (midfield) will be in the mix. Junior Julianna Grella will look to lead the defense with help from sophomore Ava Lyder and freshman Charlotte De Tolla.
• Trinity (1-15)

No information was received from the following teams: Gilford, Laconia, Lebanon, Milford, Plymouth and Trinity. 

Playoff Predictions

• Playoff teams (11): Bishop Brady, Bow, Coe-Brown, Concord Christian, Derryfield, Gilford, Hopkinton, Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough, Laconia, Pelham, St. Thomas.
• Final Four: Bow, Gilford, Hopkinton, St. Thomas.
• Championship: Bow over Gilford.
• Offensive Player of the Year: Alex Larrabee, Bow.
• Defensive Player of the Year: Amelia Lynch, Hopkinton.