LACONIA - This time around, the St. Thomas Aquinas High School girls lacrosse team will look to rewrite the ending.
After last year's Division III state championship loss to Bow, the motivated and focused Saints took care of business on Saturday by defeating Hopkinton, 19-8, to reach their second consecutive Division III state championship game.
STA will play Gilford on Thursday night at 6 p.m at Bank of NH Stadium in Laconia. STA won the regular season matchup, 12-7.
"As coaches, we were super proud of the St. Thomas girls, definitely the best game of their season," STA head coach Jill Carroll said. "They really came together as a team, and it was a huge win for them."
The Saints were powered by five goals each from Megan Leahy and Charlotte De Tolla, Cat Vetter and Lizzy Holden both had scored three goals, Reece Anderson had two goals and Kensley Harris had one goal for STA. Goalie Brea Barker had five saves in net also for St. Thomas.
Carroll said it's definitely going to be a "team effort" to get the win on Thursday.
"They'll need to play another game on Thursday, like they did today," Carroll said.
GIRLS LACROSSE
No. 1 Winnacunnet 10
No. 4 Hanover 8
NASHUA - Shea Graham had four goals and one assist, and Sky Mace had three goals and one assist as top-seeded Winnacunnet advanced to the Division II championship with this semifinal win at Stellos Stadium.
"Overall super excited for the team," Winnacunnet coach Colleen Farias said. "They have worked so hard for this and it's so rewarding for us as coaches to see the payoff. Hanover was a great opponent and definitely gave an incredible game today."
Winnacunnet will face No. 2 Windham in Tuesday's championship game at Stellos Stadium.
"The finals will be another challenge, but our girls are prepared to work hard for it," Farias said.
Emmy Granger, Sarah Rademacher and McKinley Fowler all had one goal for the Warriors, while WHS goalie Cadence Oleniak had eight saves.
BOYS LACROSSE
No. 3 Exeter 12
No. 6 Londonderry 7
EXETER - Owen Willams had four goals and three assists, and Patrick Hathaway and Marshall Lasewiz both had three goals as Exeter advanced with a Division I quarterfinal win.
Exeter will host No. 2 Bishop Guertin on Wednesday in a semifinal game.
No. 6 Winnacunnet 5
No. 3 Windham 3
WINDHAM - Five different Warriors scored and Noah Andronaco had 15 saves, leading the Warriors to this Division II quarterfinal upset.
Winnacunnet will face either No. 2 Derryfield or No. 7 Oyster River on Wednesday in a semifinal at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.
Nolan Rennie, Beckett Rath, Tim Kollmorgen and Lukas Botnick all had one goal and one assist for the Warriors, while Liam McNally also scored and Braden Nowak had an assist. Defensively, Drew Marelli and Tony Piotrowski.
No. 2 Derryfield 15
Oyster River 2
MANCHESTER - Evan Plourde and Tyler Callander each had a goal for Oyster River in its Division II quarterfinal loss.
Jake Failla had an assist for the Bobcats, while goalie Cole Norris had seven saves.
No. 4 Timberlane 11
No. 5 St. Thomas Aquinas 3
PLAISTOW - The Saints' season came to an end with this Division II quarterfinal loss.
No. 1 Bedford 19
No. 8 Dover 2
BEDFORD - Dover saw its season come to an end with this Division I loss.
BASEBALL
No. 3 Londonderry 3
No. 11 Portsmouth 0
LONDONDERRY – The Lancers scored one run in the second inning, and two in the sixth for this Division I quarterfinal win.
"Today the other guys were just a little better,” Portsmouth head coach Tim Hopley said. “We had some chances, had two runners on in two or three innings but couldn't get a timely hit when we needed it."
Portsmouth ended the season with a record of 11-10.
"It was a good group this year, proud of them,” Hopley said. “With seven first-time varsity players, we didn't always swing it well, throw enough strikes, or make all the plays, but we worked at it and improved and played most of our best baseball against the best teams."
Devin Driscoll led Portsmouth with two hits, while Jake Carlisle and Zavier Lampert both had one.
Portsmouth’s Joe Zingariello allowed one hit and one run over five innings, striking out three.
No. 13 Nashua North 3
No. 5 Dover 1
DOVER -- The Green Wave tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning when freshman Amari Lewis drew a bases-loaded walk, knotting the game at 1-1.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, and with two outs, Dover's Ryan Sullivan laced a double to left center, but Daniel Conrad grounded out to the pitcher to send the game to extra innings.
The Titans scored two runs in the eighth, when two runners came to score on a passed ball and an error, as Nashua North took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth, where unfortunately the Green Wave couldn't force the game into a ninth inning.
Dover ends the season at 14-8.
"Today was a classic New Hampshire Division I playoff baseball game that came down to the wire," Dover head coach Scott Dubben said. "Just didn't go our way today. For most of the game, we played great defense, and they capitalized when we made some mistakes ... we hit the ball hard all day today, it just didn't go our way."
No. 4 Newmarket 7
No. 5 Epping 3
NEWMARKET – Nate Fluet had two hits and four RBIs, and Matt Napoletano and Cam Moran each had two hits for Newmarket in this Division IV quarterfinal.
Newmarket (15-3) will face No. 8 Littleton on Wednesday in a semifinal at Robbie Mills Park in Laconia.
Evan Sheehan, Sean Vincent and Jack Ferrelli all had one hit and one RBI for the Mules, and Parker Sweitzer had one hit.
No. 2 Woodsville 10
No. 7 Portsmouth Christian Academy 3
WOODSVILLE -- Grady Howe had two hits, with a double, scored two runs and stole a base, while Kian Littlefield and Cai Summers each recorded a hit for PCA in this Division IV quarterfinal loss.
Woodsville led 3-0 after one, and PCA responded in the second with two runs of its own, with the score remaining at 3-2 until the fifth inning. Woodsville tacked on five unearned runs in the fifth to take a 8-2 lead.
PCA ends the season at 13-5.
SOFTBALL
No. 2 Winnacunnet 3
No. 7 Salem 2, 8 inn.
HAMPTON – Fenway Schouller’s walk-off single to right field lifted the Warriors in this Division I quarterfinal.
Winnacunnet will face No. 11 Bishop Guertin on Tuesday in a semifinal at Plymouth State University.
Salem retired the first two Winnacunnet batters of the eighth, but sophom*ore Maeva Shapiro then laced a triple to keep the inning alive. Salem elected to intentionally walk the two next batters to load the bases and face Schouller.
“It’s not just the top of the order for us,” Winnacunnet coach Bill Edwards said. “The middle of the order picked us up and took care of business.”
Schouller had two hits and all three RBIs for the Warriors, while Shapiro had two hits, and Lucy Gelbstein, Arden Langmaid, Lilly Snow and Halisa Carter all had one.
Winnacunnet’s Maddy Eaton struck out six and scattered six hits over eight innings, earning the win.
No. 5 Pinkerton 8
No. 4 Exeter 6
EXETER – The Astros jumped out to a 7-0 lead and held on for this Division I quarterfinal win.
The Blue Hawks scored four runs in the fifth, and two in the sixth.
“Everything that could go wrong at the start of the game did, which is uncharacteristic for us,” Exeter head coach Kristen Morissette said. “Very proud the girls fought back. It could’ve gone the other way just as easy, but they fought back, they clawed back and put a little pressure on Pinkerton. We just dug ourselves too big of a hole. All the credit to Pinkerton, they put the bat on the ball and put pressure on us. It was unfortunate we didn’t make the plays.”
Mykenna Whittier’s two-run single to right cut the Pinkerton lead to 7-4 in the fifth. Pinkerton added a run in the sixth, but Kristen Bickford’s two-out, two-run single up the middle in the sixth brought Exeter back to within two, 8-6.
Morissette credited the play of four-year varsity players - Annie Christiania, Summer LeClerc, Madi Paige, and Bickford; as well as fellow seniors Dejah Rondeau, Edy Crawford, Rylee Marchand and Kayle Leonard, who played their final game.
No. 3 Oyster River 10
No. 6 Merrimack Valley 1
DURHAM – Addy Veno had three hits and two RBIs, and Maddy Veno had two hits and two RBIs as Oyster River earned this Division II quarterfinal win.
Oyster River will play No. 2 Kingswood on Tuesday in a semifinal game at Plymouth State University.
Grace Spirito had a hit and three RBIs, Kate Michaud had a hit and an RBI, and Laura Boughto, Kaiya Mercier, Meagan Rinko, and Morgan Trela all had a hit.
No. 3 Newmarket 2
No. 6 Portsmouth Christian Academy 1
NEWMARKET – Junior Kierra Souphakhot allowed one hit and struck out 16, including the 500th of her career, leading Newmarket to this Division IV quarterfinal win.
The Mules will play No. 2 Pittsburg-Canaan on Wednesday in a semifinal at Plymouth State University.
Annaleigha Dotson’s sacrifice fly scored Lily Thompson with the game-winning in the sixth inning.
Emma Surina had two hits for the Mules, while Souphakhot had a hit and a run.
Eliza Arwood’s RBI single scored Kora MacKenzie with the lone PCA run.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: STA, Winnacunnet girls reach lacrosse finals: Sat. tourney roundup
