Building off last year’s success of making it into the second round of the Division I playoffs, the Londonderry High School Field Hockey squad began their season with a 2-0 win over the Lady Tomahawks of Merrimack High School in the season home opener.
The Lancers took on the Tomahawks Friday afternoon, Aug. 30, controlling much of the first half where the team scored both of their two, unanswered goals.
The second half of the game had the home squad successfully defending their goal against a more aggressive Merrimack offense.
The first goal of the LHS season went to Ava Windisch, in the first quarter, with the assist going to Avery Stowell.
The second goal was scored in the second quarter, Alison Chambers had the unassisted insurance point about halfway through the period.
Londonderry goalie, Molly Tharrington, only needed to make two saves behind her strong defense.
On the other side of the field, Annabelle Cassetty of Merrimack needed to make 10 saves.
Head coach, Nichole Treadway, was pleased with the victory, saying, “Overall, it was a good start to the season, it’s always nice to start off with a win. We didn’t play our midfield game the way we would have liked, but Merrimack was great with double team, which made that very difficult. Our offensive circle looked good, we drew a lot of corners and were able to execute them, but Merrimack goalie was excellent and we just couldn’t sneak another one by her.”
Treadway added, “In addition to our goal scorers and our goalie, Tharrington, we had a strong showing from Eres Delorey in the midfield, Abigail Austen and Ava Naar on defense and Lindsey McKinnon in the midfield.”
Treadway went deep into the bench for the first game of the season, saying, “Every player on the roster saw the field today and contributed positively, that’s exactly what you want as a coach and I am proud of them all for stepping up.”
This week, LHS was scheduled to play Windham High School (0-1) on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at home. A team the Lancers fell to in the second round of the playoffs last season. They will play at Keene High School on Friday, Aug. 6 for their third game of the season.