Nashua South's Carly Benzekri gets a shot off despite the pressure by Exeter's Grace McIlroy during Tuesday's Division I clash at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It’s Triple Crown season, and in a way, New Hampshire high school girls lacrosse is similar to horse racing.

Teams try to set the pace during their games, and at this time of year, they’re all jockeying for position.

The Nashua South Panthers did just that on Tuesday at Stellos Stadium against Exeter. They jumped out to early leads of 2-0 and 4-1, putting the Blue Hawks on the defensive, and never lost the lead in a 13-10 win. Now, what that win does is put them ever so close to third place in the Division I standings at 12-4, as they’ve got same record as Exeter but trail the Blue Hawks by a point because the Panthers win over Derryfield was worth fewer points. Still it was valuable.

Yes South clearly set the pace in this one.

“They did,” Exeter coach Angela Palmer said. “100 percent. And we talk about that ever day.”

“It was a battle,” South coach Ciki McIntire said, here team taking a 8-5 lead into the locker room. “I knew at halftime, I mentioned to the girls they were going to come out hot, score a few goals, and we can’t give them any more than one or two….

“We want to make them work for everything. I was really proud of the way the girls stepped up today, worked together as a team, they put some things together. They were getting battle tested out there. I think they all need ice baths.”

Especially Maren Lowell, who led the Panthers with four goals and two assists. Lowell hit the Motta Field turf at least five times, if not more. But the Panthers were up to the challenge. “She’s a competitor, she’s never going to want to come out,” McIntire said.

Lowell scored first in the third quarter, and Panthers outscored the ‘Hawks 3-2 in that 12 minutes. Exeter’s Hailey O’Kane scored one of her team-high four goals with 9:53 left to make it 11-9, and the fear was a Blue Hawk run was starting. But Lowell with 8:28 left and Addison Borden beat Blue Hawks netminder Molly Byrne (nine saves) to take a 13-9 lead with 5:50 to go, and the Panthers hung on. Saige Devins, Addie Borden and Carly Benzekri had three goals each while Karina O’Donnell and Briley Landsteiner had an assist each.

For the Blue Hawks, Claire Wilhelm had two goals while Ellie Dean, Anna Lieberman,Karli Sherpf and Riley Benevides had one each.

One of the big reasons for South’s win was goaltender Lilee Petricca, who was on top of her game with 11 saves.

“She had an amazing game,” McIntire said. “She completely stepped up. This might have been her best game of the season.”

And this might have been the Panthers’ best game as a team against solid competition. Defensively Nevaeh Eppolitto, Lexi McGuire, Maddie Langer, Nitzann Alkalay and Karina Santana played well in front of Petrecca to prevent a Blue Hawk run.

Nasbua South’s Maren Lowell is bothered by Exeter’s Crace McIlroy, left, and Claire Wilheim during Tuesday’s Division I game at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“Exeter’s been hot lately,” McIntire said. “I was worried that Exeter is a fourth quarter team, and they were just going to keep coming at us and coming at us. We just had to hold strong til the end.”

And speaking of ends, South finishes up at Windham next Wednesday and has a rematch with North on the 29th. Exeter hosts Bishop Guertin next Wednesday and wraps up vs. rival Dover on the 30th. Finishing second or third would likely keep either team from a potential semifinal vs. unbeaten Portsmouth. But there’s still a lot of lacrosse to be played.

“It’s all up to the last two games for us I guess,” Palmer said. “We still have two more, so we’ll see how they turn out.”

And see who has the best shot at getting to, well, the finish line.