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DERRY N.H. — There's a new boss in New Hamphshire girls volleyball, and Londonderry claimed its first title by soundly thumping the old boss.

Playing in the title game for the first time in school history, the Lancers ran past defending-champion Spaulding three games to one last night at Pinkerton Academy. Londonderry (19-2) defeated the Red Raiders (19-2) for the second time this year while closing the season with its 12th consecutive victory.

NASHUA — “Don’t let up,” Salem coach Kendrick Whittle shouted to his players after junior Cassie Chase scored in the 58th minute to tie her team’s Class L semifinal against Manchester Central.
Whittle’s message, however, was not enough as Salem allowed a goal 15 seconds later as No. 4 Manchester Central posted a 2-1 upset victory over the No. 1 Blue Devils yesterday.
“We were on a pretty big high and they knew they had to come back hard and they did,” Chase said. “We didn’t anticipate that. (Coach) always says not to let up. But occasionally we do because we’re so excited.
“We worked so hard this season that we feel like we deserve to be in the finals.”
Whittle added: “You’ve got to play hard after you score, even when we’re up 4-0, 5-0 — that’s usually what I say. Our defense, coming into today, we’ve allowed 10 goals all season. So to allow those two goals, it’s just not what we do. It hurts.”
Salem finished the season with a 17-2 record. Both losses came against Manchester Central.
The Blue Devils also dropped a 2-1 game to the Little Green on Sept. 15.
“I don’t think we talked about revenge,” Whittle said. “We talked about correcting the mistakes we made last time and we didn’t. I don’t feel as though we corrected to the caliber we needed to.”
Salem had its chanced to tie the game late. Chase hit the crossbar on a free kick with just seconds left in regulation.
“There was a lot of pressure at the end of a game down a goal,” Chase said about her shot over the crossbar. “I just didn’t get my head over the ball and just didn’t focus enough.”
Manchester Central’s Sarah Velasquez scored the game winner on a shot from about 12 feet out.
“It just got by us,” Salem goalie Sarah Snyder said. “I know (Sarah Raye) was trying to stop them from coming in but a player got by her and we’re not used to having Raye sweep because our usual sweeper Hanna LaRochelle is sick. I just couldn’t get out fast enough before she popped it over me,”
Londonderry loses
in PK session
Londonderry hadn’t spent much time on penalty kicks at practices this season.  
“Yesterday was actually the first day,” senior Kelley Griffin said, adding with a chuckle: “Maybe we should’ve practiced them a little bit more.”
No. 2 Londonderry fells to No. 3 Exeter on PKs yesterday, after the score remained deadlocked 1-1 after two 20-minute overtimes. Exeter won the shootout 3-1.
Lancers goalie Lindsey Bolduc looked strong in the PKs after making three nice saves during the second overtime, including one that she stopped with both hands after completely stretching to her right.
“I knew going into the second overtime that it was going to go to PKs,” Bolduc said. “In practice I had done really good (with PKs) so I was just going with what I did in practice.”
Bolduc, who was named the starting keeper about midway through the season after Kelsey Derhak broke her nose, saved the second PK shot going to her left after Exeter missed wide on its first attempt.
But the Blue Hawks were able to find the back of the net.
Meanwhile, Londonderry failed to score its final two tries after converting on its second attempt.
Londonderry coach Derek Dane was proud of his goalie’s performance.
“The group gained confidence in her,” Dane said. “You can see it on the field. She performed.”  
Griffin and Londonderry felt upset that the game  and their season — ended with PKs.
“I personally hate them (PKs) because that’s not how a team wins,” Griffin said. “It’s not a team thing. It becomes individual. Obviously you can’t continue to play because it gets crazy when it keeps going longer but nothing stinks worse than PKs.”

LONDONDERRY, N.H. — The birthday boy Alex Lambert caught a punt at his team’s own 47, burst through a hole near the center of the field, accelerated some more and darted 53 yards for the touchdown. The 5-8, 150-pound Londonderry senior, who turned 18 yesterday, celebrated his big day in impressive style, leading the Lancers to a 40-13 rout over Manchester West.
Lambert rushed 24 times for 217 yards, including touchdown sprints of 23 and 3 yards. He completed both passes he threw for 56 yards total, including firing a 46-yard TD.  
The highlight of the day for him though was his punt return since it is so rare.
“I haven’t done that in years,” Lambert said. “The last time was freshmen year. I just took the ball, got good blocking and just shot right up the middle and it was open.”
Lambert comes from an athletic family. His brother, Eagle-Tribune All-Star Ryan Lambert, played football for Londonderry before graduating in 2007. Although Alex certainly does not share the same large build as Ryan — who played linebacker and fullback — the younger sibling does a nice job relying on his quickness.
The senior rushed for 60 yards on Londonderry’s 68-yard opening drive, which resulted in a touchdown.
Lambert lined up at running back, with a wingback beside him, and took many direct snaps.
“I just get the balls straight up shotgun and the holes were huge,” Lambert said.
Sophomore wingback Sean O’Gorman added about Lambert: “He’s an all-around good player. His punt return was the first one we’ve had all season. Even coach Rich has been saying we needed one every game. He’s wicked fast and agile.”
Londonderry put the game away in the second quarter by outscoring Manchester West 27-6 to take a 34-6 lead.
The 27-point second quarter included a 43-yard TD pass from Ross Johnston to Kevin Hale.
Hale was mobbed by his teammates in the end zone. It was a well-deserved celebration as Hale was playing his first game after sitting out the first three weeks with a slight MCL tear suffered during the preseason.
“It was pretty exciting,” Hale said. “It was pretty cool that my first reception back ended up being a touchdown like that. It was a perfect pass by Ross. He put it right on me.” 

 Aaron Starkman turned in for saves, but it was not enough as No. 6 Londonderry fell to No. 3 Bishop Guertin in the Class L quarterfinals.

Behind the efforts of Katie Schwarz and Megan Schwarz, No. 2 Londonderry topped No. 10 Goffstown 25-19, 25-21, 25-18 in the Division 1 quarterfinals.

Led by a hat trick from Kelley Griffin, No. 2 Londonderry exploded for four goals in the second half on the way to downing No. 7 Winnacunnet 5-1 in the Class L quarterfinals. Tori McCombs opened the scoring and assisted on two of Griffin's goals, and Lydia Simmons had a goal and an assist for the winners.

LONDONDERRY — After seeing an untimely penalty give Nashua South a late 1-point lead, Matt Charest answered with a 32-yard field goal with 18 seconds remaining to give Londonderry a 31-29 victory and keep its Division 1 playoff hopes alive.

In a game which began Wednesday, Londonderry finally eliminated Keene, pulling out the win on penalty kicks. Andre Simmond, Kevin Greene and Connor Pauley scored for the Lancers while Aaron Starkman only relinquished one PK goal. He had one brilliant PK save to turn the tide.

The number 2 seed Londonderry sweeps the 15th seed Manchester West 3 games to 0 in the Division 1 Girls Volleyball Tournament . Lead by Katie and Megan Schwarz, who combined for 26 kills. Megan also had 7 ace's and Amy Johnson had 31 assists. They play the winner of Alvirne-Goffstown at home at 6 p.m. Saturday.

With Conor Dube doing the serving, No. 2 seed Timberlane scored the first seven points of the match on its way to the sweep of Londonderry.
Junior Max LaRoche was the surprise big gun for the Owls with 11 kills and two blocks and Joe Morin chipped in with two kills and a block in a key five-point streak in the second game when Londonderry was threatening to tie up the match.
“Max was only JV last year, and we weren’t sure what to expect, but we stuck him in the middle and he’s been fantastic,” said Timberlane coach John Dube. “He’s been much better than we expected.”
Senior Terry Matatall finished with 10 kills but, like a couple of his teammates, wasn’t quite as effective as usual. That may have been a good thing, however, according to their coach.
And, said Matatall, “I feel we know what to expect having been in the finals last year. I’m confident we can beat them. We’ve gotten a lot better since the last time we played them.”
For Londonderry, which made several nice runs in the match, Matt Hersey had eight kills to lead the front line. The Lancers finished 12-6, which was a nice turnaround from 2008 (6-11).
“We played pretty well, but it was too hard to come back from that early deficit,” said Londonderry coach David Starin.