Portsmouth Holds On For 17-15 Girls’ Lacrosse Win Against Mariners

NARRAGANSETT – The Mariners’ Kiani Carroll won the battle between two of the state’s highest scoring girls’ lacrosse players, but Maddy Blackburn and the Portsmouth Patriots ended up the victors.

After losing leads of 8-3 and 12-9, Portsmouth rallied to score five of the last six goals in a wild 17-15 win against the Narragansett Mariners on Wednesday afternoon.

Portsmouth head coach Michael Borrosh said that like Narragansett, his team isn’t particularly deep, and relies on freshmen to serve as substitutes. As a result, teams can run on his younger players, or score when his seniors are tired.

“I think the big challenge we have is that we don’t have a deep squad,” he said. “Through the first half we had a fairly decent lead … I think they got gassed.”

Borrosh said it showed on both ends. The crisp, long passes that allowed Portsmouth to jump out to a 6-2 lead turned into long runs, which tired the Patriots out on the defensive end.

“Good footwork is the key to defense, and as they started to get tired, the defense got thin,” he said, adding that by the second half of the second half, his team “played a much more settled game.”

Carroll finished with seven goals to Blackburn’s five, but Blackburn tied the game up with a goal with 5:52 remaining. Haley Kirwin’s second goal of the game then gave the Patriots a 15-14 lead at 4:36 they wouldn’t relinquish.

Portsmouth (6-1, 6-1 Division II-South) put the game out of reach for Narragansett (4-3, 4-3 Division II-South) with two goals in the final three minutes by Julia Harrigan. The freshman finished with four goals and an assist.

Carroll scored her seventh and final goal with 29 seconds left, but Portsmouth goalkeeper Jordan Borrosh turned away three other Mariner shots in the final minutes.

While it wasn’t one of Jordan’s best days in goal, Borrosh said she came up with timely saves.

“She made key saves to prevent the momentum from swinging again,” Borrosh said. “She stepped up and made the big saves when she had to.”

Borrosh praised the work of Carroll, midfielder Samantha Sabetti and Narragansett coach Ken Andronowitz following the game.

“As we subbed in the freshman, he [Andronowitz] was very good at being able to exploit the match-ups,” Borrosh said.

Andronowitz said he sees his team continuing to develop their game, and he was glad they stayed competitive with one of the better teams in the division.

“All these kids are working hard on their left and becoming ambidextrous players,” he said. “I’m just real proud of the way these girls played.”

Sabetti, who also played for the Mariners’ girls’ basketball team this past year, used her length and height to repeatedly sling shots past Jordan Borrosh. The junior finished with five goals and won the majority of the draws in the second half.

Andronowitz added that he was pleased by the development of sophomore Chandler Lemay’s game. The speedy midfielder controlled portions of the first half, getting to deflections by Sabetti on draws and scoring a goal.

Narragansett freshman Emily McGreen also made her mark on the game in the second half. With 12:16 left, she passed to Sabetti for a goal. She scored her own about 90 seconds later, getting the Mariners within one.

According to statistics kept by The Providence Journal, Carroll is second in the state with 39 goals, trailing only Jill DeSimone of Lincoln (48). Blackburn is sixth with 29 goals. Narragansett goalkeeper Caitlin Skenyon is second in the state with 91 saves.

Portsmouth has about a week off until its next game. On Wednesday, May 4, they host Warwick Vets (3-4, 3-4 Division II-South) at 4 p.m. Narragansett hosts Pilgrim (0-7, 0-7 Division II-South) on Friday at 3:45 p.m.

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