Bedford girls beat Pinkerton in lacrosse semifinal
Jun. 5—EXETER — The Bedford High School girls lacrosse team pitched a first-half shutout and scored seven straight goals in the second half en route to its 12-3 NHIAA Division I semifinal victory over Pinkerton Academy on Saturday night at Bill Ball Stadium.
Second-seeded Bedford (16-2) will play the winner of Saturday's late semifinal between top-seeded Bishop Guertin and fourth-seeded Souhegan in the final on Tuesday night (7) back at Bill Ball Stadium. Third-seeded Pinkerton finished the season with a 14-4 record.
The final appearance will be Bedford's first since 2018, when it fell to three-time defending champion Bishop Guertin, 10-9, in overtime.
The Bulldogs won all four first-half draws and had the possession advantage throughout the opening 25 minutes to take a 3-0 lead into halftime. After Madeline Kiely and Julian Bell both scored over the opening 1:52, the Bulldogs did not notch their third tally until 37.9 seconds remained in the first half.
Bedford junior Regan O'Brien, who assisted on Kiely and Bell's opening two goals, capped the first-half scoring via an assist from Bell.
Pinkerton senior captain and goalkeeper Lauren Sweeney and the Astros' zone defense in front of her stymied the Bulldogs the rest of the half. Sweeney made all eight of her saves and Bedford hit the post on two other shots over the opening 25 minutes.
Pinkerton's Hailey Schnider and Hannah Lisauskas both scored over the opening 3:27 of the second half to pull the Astros within one. Bedford responded by securing the next three draws, which led to free-position goals from Bell (game-high four goals) and Eliana Enners (two goals) that built a 5-2 Bulldogs lead.
Bell's third goal, which came on a free-position try with 13 minutes left, began the Bulldogs' 7-0 run.
Bedford's smothering defense and possession advantage kept Pinkerton from putting together a second-half rally. The Bulldogs also won the second-half draw battle, 9-2, and got three saves from junior goalkeeper Abigail Weidner over the final 25 minutes.
Weidner also made four saves for the first-half shutout.
O'Brien and Olivia Matthews both had a hat trick for Bedford. O'Brien also notched three assists.
Senior captain Allison Lamphere scored Pinkerton's final goal with 15:05 remaining.
