Goffstown boys lacrosse needs OT to top Bow

BOW – The Goffstown High boys lacrosse team started slow but escaped with a 5-4 overtime victory over Bow on a rainy Wednesday afternoon at Bow High School.

Connor Bourque scored the game-winning goal with 2:40 remaining in the extra frame. Steve Dubois found Bourque camping out in front of the left post of the Falcons’ net. Bourque corralled Dubois’ pass and fired a quick shot by Bow goalie Chase Chamberlin.

“I looked at the net and saw where the goalie was and I just let it go really fast because I knew a slide was coming,” Bourque said.

Bourque finished with two goals. Dubois tallied a goal and an assist.

The Grizzlies (4-1) started the the extra frame a man down after taking a penalty late in the fourth quarter.

“We started a man down, which obviously was a difficult thing but our defense was able to button things up just enough that we were able to get ahead and get the ball in the offensive end and we took advantage of that,” said Goffstown coach Josh Lewis.

It looked as if the Grizzlies were going to pull out a 4-3 regulation victory before Bow’s Brendan Ulrich scored with 13 seconds remaining. Ulrich’s equalizer was his third goal of the game.

“We’ve tried to work on late execution in these tight games, in practice and to see it come out in a game like that and us having the presence of mind to run it correctly is empowering for us going forward,” said Falcons coach Kyle Tracy.

Bow (1-4) had a 3-2 advantage at halftime but Goffstown notched two goals late in the third quarter to take a 4-3 lead into the final frame.

Dubois knotted the score at 3-3 with 5:05 left in the third. His low shot from the right took a bounce in the crease and landed in the left corner of the Bow net. Nick Ollila broke the tie when he scored less than two minutes after Dubois’ tally.

The Grizzlies did not allow a shot on goal and won two of three faceoffs in the third quarter.

“I’ll say the same thing I tell the boys: get off the bus,” Lewis said. “Third quarter, they got off the bus. Instead of just being here, they decided to play.”

Bow lost both faceoffs in the opening quarter but took a 1-0 lead into the second frame. Falcons midfielder Colin Buck scored 1:58 into the game when he worked through the Grizzlies’ defense and ripped a close-range shot.

Ulrich scored both of the Falcons’ goals in the second quarter. His first came 2:58 into the frame to build a 2-0 Bow lead and his second with 1:32 left in the half put the Falcons ahead, 3-1.

Bourque put the Grizzlies on the board with 3:16 to go before halftime with a low shot from the right. Ollila cut Bow’s lead to 3-2 when he scored with 20 seconds remaining in the half.

Grizzlies midfielder Peyton Bickford won nine faceoffs. He won six of seven faceoffs in the first half. Colin Holt made 11 saves for Goffstown. Chamberlin made six stops for the Falcons.

“It was ugly but it was a win,” Lewis said.