Portsmouth girls lacrosse holds own at high school nationals

As far as senior seasons go, Morgan Ruhnke had a pretty good one.

Not only did her Portsmouth High School girls lacrosse team go undefeated on the way to winning its second-straight Division I title, Ruhnke finished her high school career with 240 goals, second on the program’s all-time list.

But to have an opportunity to keep playing together beyond the high school season would have been too good to be true.

Fortunately for Ruhnke and the Clippers, it wasn’t.

Around the end of the regular season, Portsmouth was invited to participate in the High School Women’s Lacrosse Nationals, hosted by First Class Lacrosse, in Wilmington, Del. The 16-team tournament was held on June 30 and July 1, with the Clippers reaching the semifinals.

“Erin (Chase), my assistant coach, saw it posted on Instagram and reached out to them to see if they had any openings,” Portsmouth coach JoJo Curro said. “She told them we’d love to be considered.”

After putting together video from previous games and sending along results and stats, First Class told the coaches a spot was there for the Clippers if they wanted it. It took about a week for the players and their parents to get everything in line.

“It meant so much to me that my last year, I could play on this team, to go with them and play one last time,” Ruhnke said. “I don’t think anyone was expecting too much. We were an underdog going in and we just wanted to prove what Portsmouth can do.”

The teams were broken up into four pools of four teams each, playing three games the first day to determine seeding for the tournament on the second day. Portsmouth was in a group with Conestoga (from Berwyn, Pa.), Moorestown (N.J.) and Noble & Greenough School (from Dedham, Mass.).

Other schools from New England participating were Deerfield (Mass.) Academy, Moses Brown, from Providence, and The Hotchkiss School and Greenwich Academy, both from Connecticut.

Games were played using collegiate rules, which included playing with a shot clock.

“We played with a shot clock, with the defense able to run through the crease, rules the girls aren’t used to,” Curro said. “It brought a whole other element to it, but we had so much fun with the whole experience.”

The Clippers beat Moorestown (4-1), tied Conestoga (3-3) and lost to Noble & Greenough (6-3) in pool play to end up seeded eighth in the tournament.

They opened the second day with another win over Moorestown (6-4) before taking on top-seeded Agnes Irwin, from Rosemont, Pa. The Owls ended the spring ranked No. 2 in Pennsylvania by LaxNumbers, but Portsmouth was able to pull off the upset, winning 5-2.

“The mindset of being the underdog, it added some fuel to play harder,” junior Maddie Houghton said. “We wanted to put Portsmouth lacrosse on the map. We just proved that we’re a strong program and a team that can compete.”

Portsmouth took on Nobles & Greenough a second time in the semifinals and came up short, 10-4, against the Bulldogs, who were the top ranked New England Prep team this spring.

“I think, overall, that the experience was really great for everyone,” Houghton said. “We were all so excited to have really high-intensity, high-level of play. The competition down there was really great and we were all super excited for that.”

Although a lot of players from Portsmouth play club lacrosse, and have participated in tournaments against high-level competition, this experience was different.

“When you’re playing club, you don’t practice every day,” Curro said. “This is a team that they’re playing with for an entire season. For a lot of college coaches, it shows them a more realistic view.”

Curro described the opportunity as once in a lifetime, but the Clippers have already been invited back to play next year. The Portsmouth coach also hopes that this will help her convince some of the top teams from around New England to schedule games against the Clippers next spring and beyond.

“Definitely, it’s going to change how I try to schedule for next season,” Curro said. “We’re a small town with a lot of talent but we’ve proved ourselves.”

Ruhnke and Houghton attributed a lot of their success at nationals to the support they received from their parents.

“Every parent went down and supported us,” Ruhnke said. “No matter the outcome, they were there and cheering us on. We strived to win because of them. They did everything they could to get us down there. Seeing how proud they were meant a lot.”