New Hampshire overcomes slow start to beat Vermont in Twin State All-Star girls lacrosse game (video)

HANOVER – It’s not always about how you start, but for the first seven minutes of Saturday’s Hanover Lions Twin State All-Star girls lacrosse game, New Hampshire looked like it was in trouble.

Vermont scored on five of its first six shots and looked to be dictating the pace.

New Hampshire came together on both ends of the field, and late in the first half, took control of the tempo and the game, going on a 3-0 run in the final 93 seconds to take the lead before building it up late for a 22-11 win over Vermont at Hanover High School.

[Check out the photo gallery from the Twin State All-Star Games!]

Ella Gray (Bow) led New Hampshire with seven goals while Skyla Mace (Winnacunnet) had two goals and five assists and Hannah Lisauskas (Pinkerton) scored twice and had four assists. Peyton Trepaney (Merrimack) and Liv Keenan (Gilford) added two goals and three assists and Sabrina Hill (Hollis Brookline) had three goals in the win.

Sydney Westover (Hopkinton) also scored twice while Maren Lowell (Nashua South) and Kaiya Mercier (Merrimack Valley) had a goal apiece. Drew Kantor (Lebanon) shook off a tough start to make 12 saves.

“Vermont took it to us early,” New Hampshire coach Rich Lisauskas (Pinkerton) said. “You saw some unassisted goals and not sliding, but quickly after that, the girls responded. We got a lot of sticks up in the passing lanes and then we settled in on offense to make sure we had some touches and we seemed to settle in.

“We took some time. We had a couple of plays we ran through and I think it was helpful to open the field up a little bit and let some of the speed shine.”

Elise Smith (South Burlington) led Vermont with two goals and two assists and Bibi Frechette (Champlain Valley) had two goals and an assist.

Carly Strobeck (Champlain Valley), Meredith Rogers (St. Johnsbury) and Addison Stratton (Essex) added two goals apiece while Piper Morgan (Burr & Burton) had a goal and two assists. Taylor Lampron (Mount Anthony) played the first half in goal and made 10 saves while Tayton Barrett (Rice) made five saves in the second half.

Lampron had four saves in the first five minutes as Vermont opened up by taking a 5-2 lead with 5:02 left in the first quarter.

“I think it was figuring out how each other plays and where we’re comfortable,” New Hampshire defender Jordan Gaebel (Bishop Guertin) said. “Just communicating with ourselves and our goalie, and knowing that if we work as a unit, we’re going to be able to stop them.”

New Hampshire held Vermont to just six goals the rest of the way and a 4-0 run by the offense gave it a 6-5 lead just 44 seconds into the second quarter. Vermont tied it up 29 seconds later but Gray put New Hampshire in front, 7-6, with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half.

That’s where the score stood for most of the quarter, as each team tried to get goals in transition and each defense came up with a stop. New Hampshire started to slow down the pace late in the half and it worked.

Mace made it 8-6 with 1:33 left in the half and Gray added two goals in the final 30 seconds for a 10-6 lead at halftime.

“I was a little bit nervous because of the high level of play,” Gray said. “We passed really well. When we moved the ball fast in transition and keep it moving around, we got open looks. We had a few plays we made before the game and those worked out well.”

Setting up those plays also helped New Hampshire to slow the pace down when it needed to.

“The girls were looking for each other and were making great passes,” Rich Lisauskas said, “and slowing it down and settling in helped a lot.”

Lowell scored with 4:03 left in the third to put New Hampshire up 14-8, its largest lead to that point, but Vermont was able to make it 15-10 going into the fourth quarter.

But from there, New Hampshire pulled away. Gray and Keenan scored 1:02 apart to make it 17-10, and Mace and Westover tacked on two more goals before Vermont took a timeout with 6:46 to play.

Gray scored her seventh goal with 5:08 left to put the game in running time.

“It was really fun and I had a great time,” she said. “I’ve played with some of these girls before and now it’s really our last time, so that was sad. But I can’t believe how well all played together.”