Windham girls lacrosse hangs on for win over Souhegan

AMHERST – The Windham High School girls lacrosse team picked up one of the biggest wins in the program’s short history Thursday, and it came with a little bit of controversy.

The Jaguars opened their season – their first after moving up to Division II – with a 15-14 win over Souhegan, one of the favorites in Division I this year, but a non-call as time expired overshadowed the upset win for Windham.

The Jaguars led by as many as five in the first half, and were up four early in the second, before Souhegan stormed back to take the lead. Windham responded and was able to hold on for the win.

“What a strong game,” Windham coach Jill Bartlett said. “They really stepped up to the intensity of it across the board. We’re a talented team, so I was curious how they would be with the pace of the game and the differences between the divisions.

“You watch it in June in the playoffs, but you don’t see everybody’s play during the season. Souhegan is an excellent team. It was just an awesome game and I’m pleased with the way the girls played.”

Melissa Cino led Windham (1-0) with five goals and three assists, while Courtney Sweeney had four goals and two assists and Ali Connors had three goals and a helper. The Jaguars also got two goals from Samantha Crichton and a goal from Alexandra Lewis.

The Sabers made it a one-goal game with 10 seconds remaining when Jocelyn Donohue (two goals, two assists) scored her second goal of the game. Souhegan won the draw, and after a whistle with 5.5 seconds left, got the ball to Donohue again with a shot lined up from the left of the goal.

But as Donohue took the shot, she was hit from behind by a Windham player. The ball went wide of the goal, Donohue crumpled to ground as the horn sounded, but no call was made.

Bartlett and Souhegan coach Maren Petropulos declined comment on how the final play unfolded.

“You’ve got 10 seconds left, so what do you say,” Bartlett said. “It could be a moot point, or it could be the game-changer as it was lining up to be. We just talked about that we needed possession and unfortunately, we didn’t get possession of it.”

There was more to the loss for Souhegan (1-1) than just the final play.

“Windham has a very talented team,” Petropulos said. “We were not passing and catching and going after groundballs like we should. We have some work to do. It’s early in the season, but after three weeks of preseason, we should be more ready to go.”

The Sabers were led by Madison Learned, who had six goals and four assists, and Mickenzie Larivee, who added five goals, including one with 13:14 left that gave Souhegan an 11-10 lead, its first since early in the game.

After a yellow card to Lewis, Learned added another goal to put the Sabers up two, but that was all Souhegan would get with the man-advantage.

A goal by Cino cut the lead two one with 9:53 to play, and after Souhegan was assessed a yellow card, the Jaguars scored three more goals to go ahead 14-12 with 5:18 remaining.

Windham tried to work the clock, but Learned was able to get possession and went coast-to-coast, scoring with 2:56 left to make it a one-goal game. But Windham answered on a goal by Crichton with 1:41 to play, which ended up being the game-winner for the Jaguars.

“I feel like the girls came out a little nervous and did some things that were out of character for us,” Bartlett said. “Both teams played such a strong game coming out in that second half that it was just anybody’s game.”

Souhegan took an early 2-1 lead, and could have had more, but two goals were waived off, one on an offside call and another on a charge.

Windham took advantage by winning draws and groundballs and maintaining possession for most of the first half. The Jaguars scored six straight goals to take a 7-2 lead with 3:41 left in the half.

“If the ball was on the ground, Windham was getting it, and our passes weren’t connecting like they should have,” Petropulos said. “We were getting the draw a lot more in the second half than we did in the first half.”

Souhegan will look to bounce back Monday when it hosts Exeter, while Windham plays host to Londonderry on Saturday.