Souhegan girls lacrosse coach, Maren Petropulos calls the Sabers’ defensive dynamo “feisty.”

More than one opponent used the term “tenacious.”

Pick out any synomym for relentless that you can find and you’re talking about senior co-captain McKenzie Robinson.

“She’s the glue to a very good defense,” said the coach of the St. Anselm’s-bound lock-down defender. “You look at her out there, she talks and she’s just so positive.”

Robinson continues to deliver, as she has for four years on the back line for the defending state champions.

Souhegan is off to an 11-1 start, and this defense is allowing a mere 4.1 goals a game in Division I play.

“We’re doing really, really well,” said the National Honor Society student. “We have a lot of new players and we’re building. It’s the heart of our season coming up and we are connecting. I thinking we are doing it well.”

Robinson is one of the school’s premier three-sport stars. Next year, she’ll give up hoop, but plans on playing both field hockey and lacrosse for the Hawks.

It will be interesting to see how she makes the transition between sports. In the fall, she’s a prolific scorer in field hockey. Come spring, it’s all on the defensive end.

Hoop has provided her that proverbial switched to be flipped from offense to “D.”

“I’m definitely more of a defensive player in basketball too,” said Robinson. “I love to play defense. It definitely helps with my speed and my footwork (for lacrosse). There’s no stick. You have to stay in front of the ball, so I just keep working at it.”

Clearly, it has paid off over the years. The future elementary education student, who runs field hockey camps for youngsters in the summer, is one of the state’s top one-on-one players. It is a skill she was sold on early in the game.

“I loved it right from the start, and I loved playing with my friends,” said Robinson. “I’ve always loved the competitiveness, playing defense and being able to shut people down.”

Time is running out, though, on her high school athletic career. The Sabers have a handful of regular season games left before they look to repeat as state champs.

That’s not lost on Robinson.

“It’s getting a little scary to wind down here. It’s definitely getting emotional,” she said. “We have like seven seniors who have basically been playing this game together since kindergarten. We’re all getting pretty emotional about it. We’re just battling through it and having fun right till the end.”

The plan is not to let the “end” happen until the last possible second, and that would be the state final at Manchester Memorial on June 6.

“We’re just trying to play hard each day,” said Robinson.