NASHUA – After three very tight quarters where Merrimack Valley dominated, but couldn’t pull away, senior Alyssa Brodeur fired a high, driven, fast and accurate shot into the top right of the goal from the right side edge of the 8-meter circle and put her team ahead 12-8 as the third quarter expired.

“Usually, that range just tends to be my specialty. I think I had most of my nerves gone at that point and when I’m not nervous, and I’m on the 8 meter, that’s what I shoot best,” Brodeur said about the goal. “So take a step back, pick a spot in goal, if it’s good, it’s good.”

Third-seeded Merrimack Valley (12-4) upset the No. 2 Merrimack Tomahawks (14-2) in a very strong and unexpectedly dominant showing in the semifinals, 13-10, to advance to its first-ever girls’ lacrosse state championship. 

In late April, Merrimack handed the Valley its first loss of the season by a wide margin, 16-6. Going into the semifinal, the Pride knew they had the element of surprise in hand, and somewhat of an underdog hunger in mind, according to head coach Kylee Yam.

The Valley started strong with patient and clever goals, ground ball wins, physical defense and gritty draw wins. The Pride lost a few possessions on the offensive end in the first quarter, but their defenders and midfielders generated even more.

Sophomore attacker Lilly Jones scored two in the first, and Brodeur and senior midfielder Kaiya Mercier continued their hot runs in the playoffs by scoring one each and generating a lot of opportunities for cutting teammates.

“They’ve worked so hard for four years, and that mentality, and that grind really came to play today,” coach Yam said. “They had the mental toughness and the physical toughness, and we’ve been working on all of that, just string that all together, and I think today, it just peaked. It was a great game all around for us.”

Goalie Taylor Gionet had a stellar performance in the goal to win the game for the Pride. Her 14-save performance demoralized the Tomahawks, and she learned what she had to do from the first game against Merrimack earlier this season.

Gionet also seemed to shake off her shaky start in the quarterfinal and had seven saves through 15 minutes and only two goals allowed. Meanwhile, her offense kept up the power and a two-goal run by junior midfielder Ella Frink saw the Pride go ahead 7-2.

“I’m just in senior year, I want to go far, and that’s what was keeping me going. Just our team, overall, we were very excited, and we got here, we were in the locker room, we were having a dance party, coaches left. We were just hyping each other up so I think that all just came together,” Gionet said after the win.

However, when the Pride’s offense slowed down, Merrimack found a taste of momentum and went on a big run of four unanswered goals to cut the lead. The Valley’s defense locked down to end the quarter and forced Merrimack to miss until senior midfielder Ava Martin scored with two seconds left to make the score 8-7 just before half.

Merrimack’s coach, Katie Todd, said her team still had some nerves going into the game and that MV’s strong start threw them for a loop. She did not pinpoint one specific thing that her team did wrong – but noted the Pride’s determination, hunger and Gionet’s strong performance as big factors.

In the second half, MV came out strong and shut out Merrimack until the end of the third quarter. It kept on fighting to keep the lead with very strong draws and physical play on ground balls to control the game's pace.

The loose and haphazard passing that allowed Merrimack to get back into the game in the second quarter was gone, replaced by confidence and a hint of underdog fire, which grew with Brodeur’s goal for the Pride.

Every Pride player had a bit of action to get the win. Brodeur led the team with two assists, three goals, four ground balls and four draw controls; Frink led with four goals and four draw controls; Jones had three goals and two assists; and junior Abigail Thompson had a goal and an assist.

To win in the championship, the Pride will have to do it all again and beat a team that they lost to earlier in the season, 16-5. They will play No. 1 Winnacunnet (17-1) at Bedford High School on Tuesday at 7 p.m. 

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com