Division II girls lacrosse: Mello's last-minute goal lifts Hollis-Brookline to title
Jun. 7—NASHUA — As the NHIAA Division II girls lacrosse championship game entered its final minute of regulation with the score tied, Hollis-Brookline seniors Paige Mello and Alyssa Hill devised a plan.
Hill would get the ball, find Mello, and Mello would take the shot.
That simple plan was the deciding play in the Cavaliers' 12-11 victory over Hanover on Tuesday night at Stellos Stadium.
"She (Mello) is a fabulous player, and she and Alyssa play that two-man game," Hollis-Brookline coach Linda Haytayan said. "What she did was phenomenal. Clutch play — the go-ahead, winning goal. She and Alyssa had a plan and they executed it."
With the score tied and about two minutes left, the top-seeded Bears (15-2) secured the game's final draw and took a quick shot that missed and then lost possession when Haytayan's senior daughter, Izabella, caused a turnover.
The Cavaliers (16-4) pinged a shot off the Hanover post. Eventually, Hill retrieved the ball and fed Mello, who scored the game-winning goal on a bouncing shot with 19.7 seconds left.
"We have a really good two-man game and I feel like no matter what, we can kind of just see each other on the field," said Hill, who has played with Mello for as long as she can remember. "That really helps us out in these situations."
The title is Hollis-Brookline's first in Division II and third overall. The Cavaliers, who won consecutive D-III championships in 2009 and 2010, finished as the D-II runner-up to Portsmouth in three of the past four seasons.
Hanover, in its first final since winning the 2016 D-II title, lost only to Division I Pinkerton Academy before Tuesday. The Bears defeated Hollis-Brookline, 11-10 in overtime, in Hanover in the regular season.
The score was tied five times but Hanover never led in the final.
"I was hoping we could kind of get ahead at one point and bust it open a little bit and gain that confidence but we couldn't," said Bears coach Sarah Martin.
Hanover knotted the score at 3-3 late in the first half. The Cavaliers, seeded third in the tourney, responded with two goals over the final 1:32 before halftime from Mello and Hill's sophomore younger sister, Sabrina.
The Bears went on a 5-3 run over the opening 9:45 of the second half to force an 8-8 tie.
Mello scored via an assist from Alyssa Hill with five minutes left to build an 11-9 Hollis-Brookline lead. The Bears answered by winning the game's last three draws and tying the game at 11-11 with about two minutes remaining on goals from Maggie Higgins (two goals) and Kali McDonnell (four goals).
Hanover secured 15 draws to the Cavaliers' seven.
Linda Haytayan said the Cavaliers overcame losing the draw battle with their backer-zone defensive scheme, which her defenders wanted to abandon at one point in the game.
"They wanted to switch back to man," Linda Haytayan said. "Part of our plan was to just tighten up high up on the elbow and not to abort the backer but just to get our hands on (McDonnell's) sticks and that double team coming from the top — not leaving her alone."
Alyssa Hill led the Cavaliers in scoring with four goals and three assists alongside a team-high four draw controls. Mello and Sabrina Hill each had a hat trick. Izabella Haytayan and Cailean Roy also scored for Hollis-Brookline. Cavaliers sophomore goalie Addison Dougherty made six saves.
Higgins logged three draw controls alongside her two goals. Maeve Lee recorded a game-high seven draw controls and added three goals for the Bears. Hanover also received a goal each from Sadie Higgins and Lauren Eiler (three assists) and six saves from sophomore goalie Charlotte Robinson.
Bears sophomore defender Elleanor Bradley, who was tasked with marking up Alyssa Hill, left the game early with an ankle sprain.
"It feels awesome — very well deserved," Mello said of winning the championship after finishing as the runner-up the past two years. "We worked extremely hard all those years but this was definitely our best year."
