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LONDONDERRY - In the moments after Londonderry's first round tournament loss to Pinkerton on Wednesday, senior goalie Kaitlyn Marchant tearfully embraced coach Scott Walden, who offered encouragement after her one and only season of high school lacrosse came to an end. "He told me how much he appreciated it and how much it changed the team," said Marchant, who made nine saves in the 7-6 loss to the defending state champions. "It was an honor to play. I love the team and I wouldn't have changed anything." Though Marchant has long been renowned as a top quality goalie, she never suited up for Londonderry High until this spring, instead focusing her efforts on track while playing club lacrosse for the Tomahawks in the summer. But after committing to Western New England University last year, she decided to give high school lacrosse a try. Without her, this season - and especially Wednesday's game - would have turned out a lot differently for the Lancers, Walden said. "I told her that we are 4-14 if she didn't come out and work like she did. She would constantly have me out here for hours working on everything, and she's pretty much the stalwart," Walden said. "Even today, I was saying ‘How many more saves does she have to make before we get a ground ball?' She was a wall." Marchant was one of the key factors in Londonderry's late comeback, in which the Lancers scored four unanswered goals over the final 20 minutes to pull within one. Pinkerton had opportunities to extend its lead, but Marchant picked up some huge point blank saves to keep the Astros at seven goals. Unfortunately for the Lancers, the comeback started just a few minutes too late, and Pinkerton was able to hold on in the final minutes to advance to Saturday's Division 1 semifinal against Bedford. "The girls believed," said Pinkerton coach Rob Daziel. "We've had an up and down year, and we certainly just beat one of the better teams in the state. They believed, they were ready." For much of Wednesday's game, Pinkerton dominated the possession and seemingly won every draw control and ground ball. Though the Lancer defense held strong, the Astros wore the Lancers down, scoring seven unanswered goals between the midway point of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half to pull ahead 7-2 with roughly 20 minutes to play. Senior Dani Tompkins and sophomore Kiley Davis were the big difference-makers on offense, each scoring three goals to give the Astros what looked initially like an insurmountable lead. Meaghan Michaud had the other Astro goal. Londonderry's comeback began when Allie Marsh scored with 19:36 to play in the second half, then got going in earnest when Sarah Duarte scored her second goal of the game to cut the deficit to three. After several possessions ended in turnovers for both teams, sophomore defenseman Sammy LeClair scored her first goal of the season at the perfect time, making it 7-5 with 3:11 to play. Finally, Kiersten Hoglund, who was banged up after a painful collision in the first half, scored with 1:26 to play to make it a one goal game. With all the momentum in Londonderry's favor, however, Pinkerton won the ball on the ensuing draw. A minute and a half of keep away later, the Astros had the thrilling win. Pinkerton (14-5) will now face top seeded Bedford (16-2) at Exeter High School Saturday at 7 p.m., where the winner will face either Souhegan or Bishop Guertin in the state championship game. Londonderry wraps up its season at 14-5.

Trailing Merrimack by three goals with two minutes remaining, Pinkerton came roaring back to force overtime, with Kiley Davis tying it up with 0:54 left in regulation and then Avery Drouin scoring the winner in OT. Drouin scored five goals in the 12-11 win, and Davis had three.

Pinkerton's Dani Tompkins had a monster day, scoring nine goals to lead the Astros to a 20-9 win over Concord. Amidst the onslaught, Tompkins also surpassed 100 goals for her career, becoming the second Astro to reach the mark this season after Avery Drouin topped it in the first week.

With five minutes remaining and the score tied, Brooke Lenes fired a shot that found its way to the back of the cage to give Andover a 10-9 lead over Pinkerton. From there, the Warriors controlled possession and got great defense from Grace O'Hara to hold on for the win.

Everyone got a taste of the action for Pinkerton. Led by four goals from Dani Tompkins, the Astros featured 10 different goal-scorers in their 20-1 trouncing of Nashua North.

Avery Drouin scored six goals and Lilly Auger added five tallies as Pinkerton crushed Dover 20-0.

Dani Tompkins had four goals and three assists for seven points to pace Pinkerton to an easy 18-3 win over Keene, a nice bounce-back victory after losing to Bishop Guertin.

Pinkerton senior Avery Drouin scored her 100th career goal to help lead the Astros to a 13-3 opening day win over Nashua South. Freshman Madison Daziel scored a hat trick in her high school debut, fellow freshman Lauren Lisauskas added a goal, and Danielle Tomkins scored four to lead the way on offense.