The Kearsarge girls’ lacrosse team lost four games to four opponents during the regular season. Each of those teams went on to finish the schedule with the four best records in Division III.
The Cougars finished a smidge lower in the standings with those four losses coming against Bow, Laconia, Pelham and Derryfield. Bow, Laconia and Pelham finished with three losses. Derryfield tore through the regular season while surrendering just one loss to Laconia on April 11.
Now, more than a week since the regular season ended, records and seeding don’t seem to matter anymore as No. 1 Derryfield and No. 6 Kearsarge face off in Thursday’s championship game at SNHU in Manchester at 5 p.m.
The Cougars took out the two-time defending champions of Laconia in a drawn-out quarterfinal that took two overtime periods to decide. Bow and Pelham saw their pursuits of a state title end in the semifinals. The Falcons hopes were dashed early as Kearsarge built up a 5-0 lead in the first half of what eventually became an 8-4 win for the Cougars.
“We had a really good game against Bow,” Kearsarge Coach Hilary Grimes said on Monday. “It’s shown us that teams that beat us during the regular season, we can compete with them now.”
But even with two upset victories in the tournament, Grimes isn’t ready to say this is the best lacrosse Kearsarge is capable of.
“We’ve still got more coming,” Grimes said. “I think the team has definitely risen to the occasion. We had rough games during the season that weren’t the best for us. But we’ve steadily been getting better throughout the last couple of games, and I’m excited for what we can do (Thursday).”
The Cougars hit one skid during the season early in May with back-to-back losses to Derryfield and Laconia. It was the first time since the 2015 season that Kearsarge took two losses in a row.
The Derryfield game was their third in four days, but losing to Laconia four days later had to sting. It was the first meeting between Kearsarge and Laconia since the Sachems earned their second straight title in a 14-13 win over the Cougars last spring.
“It let us know we still have things to work on to beat the top teams in the division,” Grimes said.
Turning in an overtime win against Laconia in the quarterfinals ignited new energy in the Cougars that carried over to the semifinals with Bow, where Kearsarge earned its sixth consecutive win.
The Cougars will look for its seventh straight today against Derryfield, which narrowly defeated Pelham in the semifinals, 9-8. Madi Kochanek, a left-handed sharpshooter, turned in three goals and three assists for Derryfield while O’Neill Galinson chipped in two.
“I think our defense will be challenged, but we’re ready for the challenge,” Grimes said.
Kearsarge senior goaltender Anya Nowicki will be key in that area of the field. Nowicki has made 23 saves on 33 shots over these last two games and drew praise from Laconia Coach Kerri Howe following their quarterfinal match.
“I think Kearsarge will have a tough battle with Bow,” Howe said after the game Wednesday, “but with Anya in net … she’s hard.”
Grimes echoed Howe’s sentiment, adding that Nowicki’s aggressive play around the net – knocking down passes and getting interceptions – has increased the intensity of the entire defensive unit.
“She has definitely anchored the defense this year as she has in the past,” Grimes said. “It’s nice to see her game really stepping up in these games that really count.”
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3339, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect a schedule change due to inclement weather on the original date for the championship game.