AMHERST – It was a special day last Wednesday at Souhegan High School for girls lacrosse in general.

Two milestones were achieved in the Sabers’ dominant 15-5 win over Nashua South. Souhegan’s Emma Kennedy got her 100thcareer goal while South’s Ella Benzekri achieved goal No. 200.

“She is a dominant player,” Sabers coach McKinley Curro said of Benzekri. “She’s so diverse in every aspect of her game. She’s dominant on the draw. When she has the ball in her hands she’s likely going to score, so our defense did a great job really protecting that an limiting those opportunities. But yes, I can’t say enough about her as a player.”

At the same time, Curro was proud and happy for Kennedy, whose team also got four goals from Isabelle Stevenson. Libby Kennedy got three goals and an assist (plus four draws), while Lyla Kimblall (two goals, assist), Abby Gianetti (goal, assist) and Lanai Hickman (goal) also contributed. Goalie Catherine Schriever had six saves, while her Nashua couterpart, Keira Walsh, had seven saves.

But the Sabers set the tone early, as it was 5-0 by late in the first quarter. The closest the Panthers got was 5-2, as they trailed 8-4 at the half and 10-5 after three.

“I’m so proud of this team,” said Curro, her team having won four straight to improve to 4-1 before falling this past Monday 10-9 to Pinkerton.“We’re young, but we’re starting to play as a team. … I feel like we brought that today, it makes a huge difference when we execute as a unit. … Last year they took us on our home field so we were ready to seek some revenge.”

“I’m definitely not making excuses, but the last week has been rough,” South coach Ciki McIntire said. “We don’t even have enough players to go 7 vs. 7 in practice. … Today we were almost back. But most frustrating was our mental mistakes, doing things that we don’t normally do., and things that we practiced. … If we could have eliminated turnovers and mental mistakes, maybe it would have been a little bit closer. But credit to Souhegan, they played a great game and they’ve got some really good players too.”

TOOMEY HONORED

Before the game, both teams lined up at midfield for a moment of silence, honoring the memory of former Sabers’ assistant and former Nashua South head coach Lindsay Toomey, who passed away in November of 2022 due to cancer. Toomey, after her success at South, started the middle school program in Amherst and her influence has been very visible throughout the program, many will tell you.

“We honored Lindsay Toomey, her memory means a lot to the entire program,” Curro said. “So it was just a great day for the entire program.”