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Defending champ Sabers face huge week ahead

The two games surrounding last weekend told a little bit about the Souhegan High girls lacrosse team.

The defending Division I state champs showed a bit of resilience, dropping their first game of the year to Mass. power Notre Dame Academy. Unfazed, the Sabers got right back on track Tuesday at Londonderry, winning 14-3.

And now, the fun is about to begin.

Sure, Souhegan has to stick to business here Friday night at home against Nashua North. Do that, and next week becomes the biggest week of the regular season with a trip to unbeaten Pinkerton Academy on Tuesday and a home date with once-beaten Bedford next Friday.

Does Souhegan have what it takes to repeat?

You might get a sense once things settle in the early evening hours of May 18, after those two gigantic challenges have been tackled.

“We’ve been playing together for so long, and we’re working each game. We’re not looking ahead, we’re just trying to beat the team we are playing that day,” said Souhegan senior co-captain McKenzie Robinson. “We work hard each day until we get there (to game days) and each day we get there, we fight and we battle.”

The senior defensive quartet of Robinson, Kate Lindsey, Mallory Chamberlain and Taylor Dudek came to play Tuesday, right from the opening faceoff.

“The defense is really strong, we talk well, and we were all really excited to see that it worked well,” said Robinson. “We tried out some new things and we were shutting it down. We got really hyped after that. It was awesome.”

Meanwhile, the Sabers were on the offensive gas pedal early, too.

Brigid Casey scored three goals in the opening half and O’Neill Galinson had a pair. Dudek, Gallinson and Abby Cranney all had two assists each as the Souhegan passing prowess was evident from the start.

Taylor Clark finished with three goals and Hannah Rowe had a pair for the

Sabers.

Souhegan is yet to lose a game in state and faces another Bay State challenge, coming up on May 20, at home against Norwell. That one is set for a 2 p.m. start.