Juniors Lucas Nowakowski and Nikolas Mallios took technical fouls with 33 seconds left in the third. With Bow ahead by just one goal, it could have made all the difference. Fortunately, Dale Berg was there to block Plymouth’s shot with his helmet.
Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the intensity of the moment. The first Division III boys’ lacrosse semifinal was full of flags, goals and big hits, and Bow made every play count.
No. 2 Bow (14-2) started jumpy but quickly took the lead as it began to match Plymouth’s energy at Laconia’s Bank of NH Stadium. Both teams traded blows, but a second-half shutout by Bow led to victory, 8-5.
“If we bring this level of energy and playing for each other, we can beat anybody in the state,” Bow Coach Tucker Johnson said.
The big goals and equally big celebrations elated one side of the stands and hushed the other. Each goal swung the teams’ momentum.
Bow senior Brendan O’Keefe forced a crucial turnover halfway through the third quarter that resulted in a fast break for Bow, flipped forward to Parker Kazanowski.
Kazanowski hesitated, almost seemed as if he wouldn’t go for the goal. He looked for the defensive switch he wanted. In the blink of an eye, he shot and scored. That crucial sixth goal, to go up 6-5 in the third, made all the difference.
“It’s all about numbers and what the defense decides to give you. If they give you the green light, you gotta take it,” Kazanowski said.
The defending champions, the No. 3 Bobcats (13-4), took pride in their defense all year. Their game against Bow was similar to their regular-season encounter.
The semifinal slowed down considerably in the second half, with Bow’s full-field defense deciding the game. Bow stopped turning it over on lousy passes. They focused on how to get the ball ahead and became turnover machines themselves.
The best defense can sometimes be a good offense, too. In the fourth quarter, Bow went on extremely long stretches of possession. Plymouth’s tired legs struggled to keep up as they chased and chased.
That 6-5 score held until senior Sam Bennett scored his second goal of the night. The first, a rocket into the top left corner, fired up the team in the first quarter.
Bennett’s hard-nosed run up the middle to widen the lead to two, through two defenders, reinvigorated Bow in the fourth. He knew he needed to bring the energy.
“I love this team, love everyone, trust everyone, I believe in everyone. We just had to keep going, keep the energy,” Bennett said.
Mallios would make up for his technical foul and take advantage of a Plymouth turnover. He found a wide-open look after Bobcats’ goalie Cullen McNair pressed him.
Mallios spun, and suddenly he had all net on his strong side to go ahead by three with fewer than four minutes remaining. Bow finished strong.
Bow will come right back to Laconia on Saturday at 5 p.m. They will face the formidable No. 1-seeded Coe-Brown Bears (16-0).