Souhegan's Allison Jordan (6) is pressed by Nashua South's Morgan Uzdanovich during the Sabers' 16-8 Divison I quarterfinal win on Wednesday in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

AMHERST – They simply passed by each other during the course of the regular season, and on Wednesday the Souhegan High School girls lacrosse team waved farewell to the Panthers of Nashua South with a 16-8 Divison I quarterfinal win.

The Sabers, as coach McKinley Sbordone said, have been on “an upward trend”. They’ve won 10 of their last 11, including nine in a row, as the No. 4 seed at 13-4. The Panthers started the season 6-0, won nine of their first 10, but wind up 13-6 – still one of their better seasons.

Their first loss was just over a month ago, 12-10, at the hands of these same Sabers. But it gave them hope they could compete against teams like Souhegan this time of the year.

The Sabers, who now face top seed Bishop Guertin in Saturday’s 7 p.m. semis at Exeter’s Bill Ball Stadium, didn’t let that happen. They jumped out to a 4-1 lead, led 10-3 at the half, and South never really made it a game.

“We had six different goal scorers, we dominated on the draw,” Sabers coach Sbordone said. “And our defense was lockdown. We knew matching up against them who their key players were, and our defense did its job.”

“Fifty-fifty balls, and our off-ball defense just killed us today,” South coach Ciki McIntire said. “They were definitely prepared. Souhegan just, they moved well off ball, and we just didn’t do a great job of shutting that down.”

And they couldn’t get the ball enough, as the Sabers won the draw 12-8,thanks to Mackenzie Crestinger, who seven. That went with her four goals, two ground ball pickups and one forced turnover.

“She’s become a master at it,” Curro said. “And Elle was fantastic. Kenzie pressing was amazing, getting those 50-50 balls.”

But the way South played offensively all season – they scored over 10 goals in 12 games this year – many were waiting for the Panthers to make a run that really never came.

One of the reasons: Saber Sarah Kimball gave South’s top scorer, Ella Benzekri, a lot of pressure. Benzekri did score three goals but wasn’t able to do as much damage as perhaps she wanted, and was injured late in the game.

“That was (Kimball’s) matchup, and she was a wall there,” Curro said. “But truly our slides and the team defense is what changed our game.”

Elle Stevenson had four goals, while Emma Kennedy added three with four assists and a ground ball. Lyla Kimball had a pair of goals but had five draws, four ground balls and a turnover.

Other Sabers who contributed: Maddie Lim (goal, three ground balls, two turnovers), Natalie Heimarck (ground ball, three grounders, two turnovers), Riley Devine (four grounders, two turnovers), Alice Serbin (three grounders, three caused turnovers), Aliso Jordan (caused turnover) and Sierra Kimball (three grounders, one turnover).

Shannon Hargreaves had nine saves in the Saber net, showing that South finally got untracked in trying to get some offense.

Other goal scorers for South were Kaitlyn West with two and singles from Maren Lowell, Kylie Dawe and Morgan Uzdanovich. Goalie Keira Walsh had seven saves.

“They went down fighting,” said McIntire, who felt South did a better job than in the past of handling some physicality. The Panthers will have about half the team back next year, so there’s something they can take from this into 2023.

“Oh absolutely,” McIntire said. “We had a really good year. Just not enough time to clean some things up. But I’m proud of the way they fought today. We’ll keep working.”

Meanwhile, the Sabers’ reward is their rematch with Bishop Guertin, whom they kept off the board for the first 11 minutes before eventually falling 18-8 back on April 22.

“They’re quick in the transition, that’s going to be our bigger challenge,” Curro said. “They’ve got things to lose, we don’t. That’s always nice going into the playoffs.”

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