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Behind Burness's pass breakup, Winnacunnet clinches second straight Div. II girls lacrosse title

EXETER — Taylor Burness expected the pass.

A senior defender, Burness clinched the Winnacunnet High School girls lacrosse team’s second straight NHIAA Division II title by causing a turnover.

Second-seeded Winnacunnet defeated Hanover 12-11 in a back-and-forth final on Tuesday night at Bill Ball Stadium.

In the closing seconds, Hanover junior Cassidy Loughman was awarded a free-position shot with the fifth-seeded Bears (12-7) trailing by one.

Loughman, who scored five free-position goals in the contest, attempted a pass to classmate Maeve Bradley, but Burness broke up the connection.

One of Winnacunnet’s five seniors, Burness then scooped up the ground ball and ran down the near sideline with the ball until the clock ran out.

“Obviously, they cleared the lane for her (Loughman) and it was me and my teammate,” said Burness, who won a Division I title with the girls soccer team last fall. “I saw her (Loughman) call out her friend’s name. I knew she wasn’t going to drive to me. I knew she was going to the girl next to me so I totally let off and I went to (Bradley) because I knew it was going that way.”

Hanover coach Sarah Martin credited Burness for making an outstanding defensive play against her young Bears team.

Hanover had no seniors and six freshmen on its playoff roster.

“We’ll learn from it and maybe we’ve got to be better at passing out of a double and triple team,” Martin said. “We’ll work on that next year but I’m so proud of (the players).”

The Bears led 4-1 after the first quarter before Winnacunnet (18-3) stormed back behind a 7-0 second-quarter run.

The Warriors, who are headed to Division I next year, took an 8-6 lead into halftime.

Winnacunnet coach Glenn McKenzie said his team had the possession advantage in the second frame, which led to its seven-goal run.

“We didn’t have the ball in the first, probably, seven minutes if not eight minutes of the first quarter,” McKenzie said. “We finally got the ball, won some draw controls. We were able to control it, settled into our offense and Ari (Rizzo) had a hell of a game. Once we got that momentum, we were able to continue it through.”

In her second game back from a concussion, Rizzo scored three goals during the Warriors’ 7-0 run. The sophomore midfielder finished with five goals, including the 100th of her young career.

Rizzo’s final goal came with 3.3 seconds left in the third quarter, giving Winnacunnet an 11-8 lead entering the final 12 minutes. It marked the Warriors’ largest lead of the second half.

Loughman scored three free-position goals in the fourth quarter. Her third, which came with 4:10 remaining, cut Winnacunnet’s lead to 12-11.

“We ended up giving up too many free-position shots,” McKenzie said. “You keep doing that, you’re going to get yourself in trouble and we did.”

Loughman scored a game-high seven goals. The Bears also got two goals from Bradley and one each from junior Joia Collins and freshman Clare Higgins.

Freshman goalie Rainey Fisher, while battling the flu, made 10 saves for Hanover.

Warriors junior McKinley Fowler had a hat trick, while teammates Addison McErlain, Elle Emery and Leah Costa each had a goal. Emery, a senior, also notched four assists.

Winnacunnet sophomore goalie Benten Lyford made six saves.

The state championship is the Warriors’ third overall in six final appearances.

Winnacunnet, which went 3-3 against Division I teams this spring, leaves Division II having played in the last three title games.

“We’re losing five seniors, myself included, but I know this team,” Burness said. “They’re hard workers and they play really well together. If they just keep that mindset going, especially from the past two years...we know we can definitely have a good run in Division I.”

ahall@unionleader.com

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