By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School Varsity Field Hockey squad is off to a very nice start to the 2023 Fall season, winning four of five of their initial games.
After starting the first week with a 2-1 record, the Lancers tacked on two more victories last week to head into their third week at 4-1.
The LHS squad has outscored their opponents 14-4 in that period and look to improve greatly on last year’s record of 7-8.
Last week, on Wednesday, Sept. 6, Londonderry took on the Lady Tomahawks of Merrimack High School, shutting out the MHS team by a score of 3-0.
The first Londonderry goal of the game came from sophomore Alison Chambers on a pass from junior Ava Naar. Chambers took the pass from in front of the goal and back-handed a shot into the back of the net at 11:16 in the first period.
The second goal came early in the second period from junior Ava Windisch, who knocked in a goal after a rebound went off the pads of the MHS goalie after a long shot was taken by senior Ashleigh Leone.
The final point of the game came by way of a penalty stoke taken by senior Taylor McKinnon at 8:45 in the second period.
Sophomore goal tender, Abbigail Cook, needed to make just one save in securing the shutout.
Merrimack goalie had eight saves in the game.
The following day, Londonderry headed for Stellos Stadium, in Nashua, where they took on the Purple Panthers of Nashua South and defeated that squad 2-1.
Londonderry took the lead on another back-hand shot taken by Chambers just in front of the Panthers net.
Windisch once again got the second goal of the game for her team.
Abbigail Cook made two saves and Molly Tharrington blocked five shots on the Lancers net.
Londonderry will try to keep the wins rolling in this week with three games scheduled to take place.
On Monday, Sept. 11, they were looking to hand the Dover Green Wave their first loss of the season.
On Wednesday, Sept. 13, they took on another undefeated team, when they traveled to Windham High School to face the Jaguars.
Their week finishes up in Londonderry on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. when they will take on the winless Timberlane Owls.