Vinciguerra's four goals leads Portsmouth girls lacrosse to fifth straight win

PORTSMOUTH - Even the best teams, ones with five state championships since 2017, can have a game that can light a fire under them.

For the Portsmouth High School girls lacrosse team, the response after a 15-14 loss to Souhegan on April 24, has been five straight wins by a combined score of 84-29.

The latest win came Friday, a 16-3 wire-to-wire decision, against Nashua South in a Division I game at Tom Daubney Field.

"They've responded very well," Portsmouth head coach JoJo Curro said. "I think they definitely took that loss to heart. We did a bit of reflecting and put a lot of work in. The girls have been putting in the work in practice and we've been seeing the changes on the field."

Curro believes the loss lit a new fire and motivation for a program that has played in seven straight state championship games.

"I think it did," she did. "I think it shows that when we're out here and we're playing, we're working for everything we get. Nothing is ever going to be given to us, and we have to put in the work to do it."

On Friday, the Clippers led 7-0 after the first period, and 12-0 at halftime.

"I thought it was a great (win)," Curro said. "We had a lot of people (score), a lot of different touches and a lot of different looks; that's what we like to see."

Vinciguerra, Patterson lead the charge

Ginger Vinciguerra led Portsmouth, now 9-1 on the season, with four goals and one assist.

"I think we played really well together and implemented what we worked on in practice," Vinciguerra said. "I think I was just looking for those gaps. Lily (Patterson) and I were connecting well and looking for the feeds and rolling off picks."

Annie Parker and Morgan Ruhnke both had three goals, while Patterson (two assists) and Georgia Bouvier both had two, and Emery Lawton and Ella Souza (two assists) each had one. Anya Bake added two assists.

Portsmouth rolling on both ends

Some teams are strong on offense, others teams are strong on defense. Portsmouth is a well-oiled machine on both ends of the field.

The Clippers are the only team to score in double figures in every game this season, averaging 15 a game. Conversely, no team in Division I has allowed fewer goals than Portsmouth's 70. Bishop Guertin is second with 75. Both Portsmouth and Guertin are the only teams to allow double-figure goals in just two games.

"We have a lot skilled players on our team," Curro said. "Everyone comes in with that sense of confidence that they're going to go out there and make an impact. I think that's nice that we can rely on anyone and they're going to do what needs to be done."

Curro added, "the speed of play that we like to play at and the level of play makes it hard (to defend)," she said. "The team works well together, so we just don't isolate one person. Everyone is working together for the same goal in the end."

"We work the ball really well," Vinciguerra said on the offense. "Everyone has their eyes up and is looking for cuts, and people aren't being selfish."

"We really try to use our plays to our advantage because we have really good plays," Patterson said. "We try to use everyone on our plays instead of just one person."

Win streak is Clippers' longest of season

With Friday's 13-goal win over Nashua South, Portsmouth's five-game win streak exceeds the four-game streak the Clippers put together to start the season.

Additionally, the 13-goal win is tied with the team's 14-1 win over Nashua North for the team' second-largest winning margin by the Clippers this season; an 18-2 win over Salem is the benchmark.

Portsmouth aims to extend that win streak to six on Monday at home against Merrimack (4-6).

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Vinciguerra's four goals leads Portsmouth girls lacrosse to fifth straight win