Fourth-quarter run helps New Hampshire hold off Vermont in Twin State All-Star girls lacrosse game (video)

HANOVER – Through the first three-plus minutes of the third quarter in Saturday’s Twin State All-Star girls lacrosse game, New Hampshire looked like it was well on its way to another victory over Vermont.

Over the next eight minutes, the girls from the Green Mountain State had other ideas, going on a 5-0 run to turn a game that was approaching running time into a three-goal contest.

The Granite Staters were able to get the lead back to four going into the fourth quarter, and then, Francesca Doyle put the game away.

Doyle opened the final frame with three goals in 50 seconds and scored six of her game-high eight goals in the final 12 minutes to help New Hampshire secure a 28-19 win over Vermont in the 30th girls game at Hanover High School. The annual game is put on by the Hanover Lions.

“I felt good,” Doyle said. “It really kept the momentum up. They were down (a player) with the yellow card, so we were just like let’s get it off the draw.”

The Pinkerton Academy graduate got it off the first three draws of the quarter, with the second and third goals coming off assists from Talula Gregg (St. Thomas). New Hampshire outscored Vermont, 6-1, over the first 2:14 of the quarter, with Gregg and Addison Moynihan (Trinity) also scoring.

Gregg finished with six goals and three assists while Lila Fitzgerald (Timberlane) had four goals and four assists and Moynihan had three goals and two assists. Phoebe Christenson (Exeter) scored four times and had an assist and Eloise Montagano (Bedford) ahd two goals and three assists.

Maeve Owens (Hopkinton) also had a goal and Mia Brissette (Goffstown) had an assist while Shelby Mason (Belmont) finished with six saves.

“Communicating and closing the open spaces,” Mason said of what New Hampshire needed to fix during Vermont’s run. “I was also telling myself that I had to look for the higher shots and the middle shots because I was on my lows. The biggest thing we talked about was definitely talking with each other to get us through to that last quarter.”

Vermont got seven goals from Radley Cherosnick (Burr and Burton Academy) while Bayleigh Clark (Rice Memorial) had four goals and an assist and Nella Bowen (Hartford) had three scores. Gillian Grimes (Rice Memorial) also had two goals and two assists and Bethany Nelson (Rice Memorial) made 15 saves.

Bowen scored the game’s first goal just 1:43 in, but New Hampshire answered with a 5-0 run and led 7-4 after the first quarter. Two goals from Fitzgerald late in the second quarter helped New Hampshire close the half on a 6-2 run to take a 15-8 lead into the break.

Doyle scored off a feed from Fitzgerald with 8:48 left in the third to make it 17-9, but Vermont started to chip away at the lead moments later.

“We were like it’s getting close, so let’s settle it more on offense,” Doyle said. “And we wanted to be more aggressive on defense. We did that and talked more because we were doing that really well in warmups. On defense, we kept up the communication and we just got more gritty.”

Cherosnick scored off an assist from Clark to make it 17-14 with 5:03 left in the third, but Vermont wouldn’t score again in the quarter. Fitzgerald got one goal back for New Hampshire, and with 18 seconds left, June Yates-Rusch (Mt Abraham Union) picked up a yellow card.

Doyle and her teammates took advantage of being a player up to put away the win.

“I didn’t think we were going to connect as well as we did because we’re all from different places,” Doyle said. “It was fun and we connected really well, not just with the people who have played together and know each other. We all just flowed with it.”

Coming from a Belmont team that won a program-best two games in Division III this year, the experience was something Mason won’t forget.

“Honestly, I felt so luck to be here,” Mason said. “I never really expected it coming from such a small school. It’s been great. I feel like we came so close so fast to just pull it together for the game.”