MANCHESTER - Several questions surrounded last night's Division III girls' lacrosse championship. Would Kearsarge be able to solve Hollis/Brookline's stingy zone defense? Would the Cougars be able stop the Cavaliers' infinite supply of offensive weapons? And most importantly, would Kearsarge be capable of ending Hollis's uncontested reign over the division?

The simple answers are no.

Top-seeded Hollis jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than three minutes in, scored six unanswered goals from five different players to end the first half with a 9-2 lead, and never allowed the Cougars to get any closer than five goals en route to an 11-6 win, capping off an undefeated 15-0 season.

"We just didn't have an answer for their zone, and their offense presses so hard, we just didn't have an answer," said Kearsarge Coach Scott Slogic, whose second-seeded Cougars finish the season at 14-3. "I couldn't be more proud of this team though; they really battled hard in that second half."

The second half is why the abovementioned simple answers aren't so simple. Kearsarge controlled - in fact, dominated - the second half. The same field that was tilted in favor of the Cavaliers through the first 25 minutes turned in favor of the Cougars over the next 25.

They attacked on defense, forcing 11 second-half turnovers. They attacked at midfield, beating Hollis to seemingly every loose ground ball. And they attacked on offense, scoring three straight goals - all by Chelsea Slogic (five total) - in a 4:08 span, trimming a Cavaliers' eight-goal lead to 10-5.

"That's been the case with us all year for some reason, we get down early and then turn it up in the second half, I can't explain it," said senior Kelsey Speake, who potted the Cougars' final goal of the game. "We still wanted it and we knew what we needed to do and we pumped each other up during halftime."

The story in the first half was Hollis's ability to convert on its free positions. Five of the Cavaliers' nine first-half goals came off direct free positions, and a sixth was scored off an indirect free position.

"Our game plan was to push back, and we did, but it resulted in some penalties," said Coach Slogic, whose team picked up three first-half yellow cards, putting the Cougars down at least one player for nearly the last 12 minutes of the half.

The story of the second half was Kearsarge's inability to convert on its free positions. Slogic's fifth goal of the game, coming with 15:23 remaining, was a free-position tally. But it was the only goal the Cougars could sneak by netminder Lorin Field (nine saves), who turned aside five other free-position bids.

"If we had made those shots we missed it would have been 11-11," Speake said. "(Field) was just very, very good."

Despite a frustrating first half, Kearsarge netminder Alanna Jablonski actually kept the Cougars within striking distance for the final 25 minutes. Jablonski made six saves in the first half, including a pair of highlight-reel stops on Kati Sousa (five goals) to close out the half.

Senior Megan Coffey and sophomore Kristen vonSvoboda also played well at the defensive end for the Cougars, who were more frustrated than disappointed with their first title game appearance.

"They came at us hard and we went down early ... that was really frustrating," said Speake, who also noted how far the Cougars have come since a 13-2 loss the Cavaliers earlier in the season. "But I'm still very proud, we've never come this far. Second is still amazing."

"You look at our girls coming off the field and they're happy," Coach Slogic added. "This was a great year for Kearsarge lacrosse. The boys' team won, we were runner-up.

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