RallyNorth.net

Astros' rally nips young Lancers

Tuesday, April, 08 By Ryan Lambert
Staff writer

Despite some opening-day problems, including a 6-3 halftime deficit, Pinkerton came roaring back in the second half yesterday, scoring four goals in 4:04 and grinding out an exciting 10-9 season-opening win over local rival Londonderry.

"It was a very nice comeback," said Astros coach Bryon Murphy. "We took care of the ball a little bit better in the second half. When you possess the ball in girls' lacrosse, usually good things happen. I think we tied them possession-wise, and we had a little bit more of an advantage after halftime."

In the first 25 minutes, though, the game was all Londonderry. Marcie Macino struck twice and Kayla Green also scored to help Londonderry open a 3-1 lead midway through the half. After a timeout, Pinkerton settled down, but sophomore Dana Boyle scored twice more before the half ended.

Londonderry, with only one senior on the roster, was up three goals on a much more experienced Pinkerton team, and the Lancers were flying high. The difference in the first half was obvious enough to Londonderry coach Bob Slater.

"We got the ball more and took control of the draw," shrugged Slater, who saw his team open three different leads of two goals or more in the first half. "That's the key to the girls' game. You've got to have the ball. We took control, we put it away and we were able to move the ball. It was what we wanted to do | just come out and play the first time on the field. We're really excited, especially with this young team."

But Pinkerton's slight edge in experience overtook Londonderry's youthful exuberance, and the Astros ripped four unanswered goals from 21:25 to 17:21 in the quarter, with two coming from Nicole Curry, who also notched two assists. When she had possession around the net, she was lethal.

"I liked the way they didn't give up," Murphy said. "Being down 6-3 and being a fairly young team, we certainly could have tanked it, but we fought back. There's still a lot of room for improvement, but we fought back and showed some guts and came back and played well.

"It really wasn't until halftime that we started to get possession. It was certainly a very sloppy first half, that's for sure. We didn't take very good care of the ball, but a lot of that had to do with their pressure."

Londonderry began chiseling away at the lead, but never again scored back-to-back goals as it had in the first half. Rory Fawcett's goal with 1:47 to go was the eventual game-winner, but Meaghann Mellen's goal just 10 seconds later made the final 97 seconds harrowing for Pinkerton.

Londonderry would not have been in the game at all if not for the heroics of netminder Taylor Hadcock, who made 10 stops, several of them from point-blank range.