Derryfield boys lacrosse holds off Portsmouth to win second straight D2 title

EXETER – Chris Hettler knew his Derryfield School boys lacrosse team would find ways to score in Saturday’s Division II championship game.

The real question for the Cougars coach was would the defense be able to slow Portsmouth down enough to allow Derryfield to get out in front.

The answer was yes, as No. 2 Derryfield held No. 4 Portsmouth to just one goal in the second half and did just enough offensively against the Clippers’ zone to come away with a 7-4 win at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

The win gives the Cougars (20-0) back-to-back D2 championships, as they’ve gone 39-1 over the last two seasons.

The key to Derryfield’s defensive success came from what the coaching staff saw during Portsmouth’s semifinal win against Dover on Wednesday.

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“We learned a lesson from the Dover game (in the semifinals),” Hettler said. “We watched Dover extend way out and they were aggressive and got burned on it. We said we trust our individual matchups, we trust that eventually, we’ll create a turnover and cash in on the offensive end.

“It’s not about style points, it’s about winning the game. We needed to come out on top in the end. I trusted our defense and goalie. They haven’t given up more than six goals in a game and once we got to that seventh goal, I was feeling pretty good.”

Jon Maclean and Connor Glosner each had two goals and an assist while Lee Sipes also had two goals, including what proved to be the game-winner early in the third quarter. Robbie Dowst also scored while Eric Mayer had two assists and Avry Truex made 10 saves.

“Very proud of the team and the way they played,” Portsmouth coach Chad Vischer said. “We didn’t quit, we worked hard and they should proud of themselves. Not the way we would have liked to have had it, but we played the game plan we wanted.

“We were going to try to keep the ball out of their offensive threats. There’s a reason they score 15 or 16 goals at a time. For us to hold them to seven, I believe that’s their lowest all year. We were successful, we just weren’t able to score as many goals as we wanted.”

Derryfield got a big game defensively from junior Brian Schwab, who helped keep Portsmouth’s Zadoc White in check, limiting him to two goals. Dom Iafolla and Caleb Begley also scored for the Clippers (15-4) and Oscar Kozikowski made eight saves.

Cole Brams gave the Cougars a battle in the faceoff circle, winning eight of 14 on the day, including the first of the game. Portsmouth held the ball for more than three minutes on that opening possession and eventually took a 1-0 lead on Begley’s goal with 6:35 left in the first quarter.

Sipes answered for the Cougars just 1:20 later to tie it and Maclean gave Derryfield a 2-1 lead with 3:30 remaining in the quarter. But Portsmouth responded, as White scored to tie it 1:15 into the second quarter and Iafolla gave the Clippers the lead 1:04 after that.

For one of the few times this season, the Cougars found themselves trailing after the first quarter. Derryfield had to regroup on the fly and tried to find openings in the Portsmouth zone.

“Being patient is one of the prime things,” Sipes said. “It was tough because we came out and were throwing the ball around and shooting first chance. I had to take them in a huddle and say let’s play our game, slow everything down. That’s what we ended up doing and we were fine.”

Glosner scored with 4:43 left in the half to tie it back up, and after a faceoff win by Sipes, Dowst scored 42 seconds later to put Derryfield up 4-3. Sipes made it 5-3 1:27 into the second half and the Cougars were able to keep the Clippers in check until the final minute of the third.

After holding the ball for nearly four minutes, Derryfield turned it over and White scored with 59.2 seconds left in the third to make it 5-4.

The Clippers picked up momentum, and had a chance to tie it early in the fourth, but a pass to Iafolla on the crease got by the Portsmouth sophomore. Derryfield recovered the ball and Glosner scored at the other end to make it 6-4.

Moments later, the Cougars were called for back-to-back penalties, putting Portsmouth up two men, but Derryfield not only killed off both infractions, but got out in transition and scored, as Maclean made it 7-4 with 6:01 left.

“That was an unbelievable kill,” Hettler said. “It may have worked to our advantage because they didn’t attack quick. They kept taking time off the clock. Let’s trust Avry is going to make the save and we’ve got to clear the ball. We made it interesting. We had three opportunities to kill the clock (after Maclean’s goal) and Portsmouth stayed aggressive. They played unbelievably well.”