Kearsarge girls lacrosse charges back to top Derryfield in D3 championship

MANCHESTER – A five-goal, second-half surge led sixth-seeded Kearsarge High School girls lacrosse team past No. 1 Derryfield on Thursday night in a 10-8 Division III championship victory from the campus of Southern New Hampshire University.

Brie Von Beren scored the opening tally of the game and led the way with five goals overall.

The Cougars of Kearsarge (14-4) have been in this spot before, but it took the extra second half effort to take home the title this time.

“Last year was so disappointing to lose with five seconds left,” said head coach Hillary Grimes. “It was one year ago we lost, it was nice to turn it in our favor (Thursday).”

That loss came against Laconia last season in heartbreaking fashion, 14-13, but on Thursday night, the Cougars of Kearsarge were able to fight back.

“We came together after our timeout and were able to start putting some goals in the back of the net during that first half,” said Grimes. “Once we pulled it to two, we really told ourselves it was anybody’s game and I’m so glad we were able to get ourselves out of that hole. It’s nice to climb from No. 6 and beat the No. 1.”

The Derryfield Cougars (15-2) held onto a 7-5 lead at the half, but scored just a single tally in the second.

“Often we hit our halftime, I feel like we don’t come out our strongest, but (Thursday) we were like, this is it, this is our last game of the season, we have to put it all out there,” said Maicy Hansen, who scored two goals in the victory.

Derryfield senior Madi Kochanek scored more than anyone in the contest with six goals, but she was shut down in the second half.

Kearsarge only committed three fouls in the second half compared to 18 by the Cougars of Derryfield.

“I think we’ve been stressing all year long, you don’t even need to put hands on, just run with them and hopefully they drop the ball,” said Grimes.

Jackie DeAngellis scored twice while Leslie Angus had a goal and two assists for Kearsarge.

The comeback was another chapter in Kearsarge’s storybook season as a lower seed to continue to upset the field.

“We were taught you can never give up, you never know when you might turn it around,” said Hansen.
We had to turn it around during the Laconia game (in the quarterfinal), we knew we could do it and there’s nothing stopping us.”

For players like Hansen, a part of last year’s team, the way last season ended was certainly a motivating factor, but more so was the chance to bring the first title to Kearsarge.

“For a bunch of us, we were like we lost it last year, we are going to bring it home this year,” said Hansen. “It’s not just about last year, but we’ve made it so far, we wanted to bring it home for everyone.”