The Sabers ponder the tough loss in the finals as they watch the Clippers get their hardware following Portsmouth's 12-7 Division I title win at Exeter on Tuesday. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

EXETER – They competed, but Portsmouth repeated.

That’s pretty much the story for the Souhegan High School girls lacrosse team on Tuesday night in the Division I finals at Bill Ball Stadium.

The Sabers gave the Clippers a lot to handle, even leading 3-2 after one quarter. But in the end, Portsmouth proved it was unbeaten for a reason, coming away with a 12-7 win for its second straight Division I crown.

“I’m so happy with our team,” Souhegan coach McKinley Curro Sbordone said. “I wanted us to win, and I think we could have won, but they should still be really proud. We kept telling them, ‘Keep fighting, anything’s possible.'”

And fight they did, but in the end, the Clippers had just too much offense as they took the lead in the second quarter and never gave it back.

“It was a great game,” said JoJo Curro, who beat her sister’s team in the semis a year ago and this time did it in the finals. “It was definitely our biggest competition. Our girls wanted competition, and we got it today.”

That was evident in the first quarter.

“Our defense looked incredible,” Curro Sbordone said. “You know they’re a high-powered scoring team, and it just happens that our defense is high pressure. We just didn’t necessarily have the stamina, so we pulled it back a little bit. That cost us, but we went back into it. … That is their game, one vs. one, and we jammed that up. … We executed our game plan the way we wanted, but we just couldn’t put enough numbers on the board.”

That’s tough to do against the No. 1, 18-0 Clippers, who beat Souhegan 16-6. Despite limiting the damage, Souhegan had to see the Clipper senior Morgan Ruhnke score six times – three in the second period that helped Portsmouth take a 6-4 lead into the half.

“I think it was just championship game jitters,” Curro said of her team’s slow start. “We kind of regressed back to past ways we’ve played. We had to get the mentality back, play as a team, it’s not an individual game and the girls responded to that.

“Their goal was to win this game. They had to do a whole lot more than what we did in the first quarter to make it happen.”

After Souhegan’s Lanai Hickman gave the Sabers a 3-2 lead with 20 seconds left in the first quarter, Souhegan didn’t score until Hickman’s second goal with 1:10 left in the half, a scoreless stretch of 11:10. That didn’t help.

Southegan’s Izzy Stevenson has nowwhere to go thanks to the defense of Portsmouth’s Maddy Houghton (12), Abby Stacy (16) and Ginger Vinciguerra during Tuesday night’s Division I finals at Exeter’s Bill Ball Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“They have a great high-pressure defense too, and I have to give them a ton of credit,” said Curro-Sbordone. “It’s just we need to handle that pressure and move the ball a little faster to find those openings. But it’s exciting because we’re getting there, we’ve got a young team and they’re all starting to get it. Which means they’ll come back (next year) stronger.”

Portsmouth took control in the third quarter, after which the Clippers led 11-5, with Souhegan’s only goal scored by Natalie Heimarck with 1:19 left to make it 10-5. The dagger was Ruhnke’s sixth goal with 13.8 seconds left in the period.

The Sabers showed that fight Curro-Sbordone wanted to see on consecutive goals by Izzy Stevenson and Libby Kennedy to make it 11-7 with 6:40 left. But that’s all they could muster, and the Clippers worked the clock to perfection down the stretch.

Hickman led Souhegan with her two goals, while also scoring, besides those mentioned were Averie and Emersyn Curran. After Ruhnke’s six tallies, Emery Lawton had three and singles were by Ginger Vinciguerra, Emery Lawton and Raegan Lawton. But Ruhnke went out in style.

“Morgan had a fantastic game, her entire career has just been fantastic,” Curro said. “I’m glad we were able to end her final Portsmouth season with an undefeated championship.”

One sister topped another. “We both have a competitive mindset,” Curro said. “When it comes down to a game where you win or lose, we’re just focusing on that game.”

Who knows, they could be back in it again next year. Portsmouth is Portsmouth – five straight Division II titles before moving to Division I over two years ago — and the Sabers lose just five seniors, including goalie Emma Crisman (seven saves). They’ll have several key returnees.

“I told them to remember this,” Curro Sbordone said. “Because we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The Sabers gather for a group hug moments after the final buzzer sounded in their 12-7 loss to Portsmouth in the Division I finals in Exeter on Tuesday night. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)