ADAMS TWP — Mars freshman Landri Shannan tries to constantly chatter as she moves into position to mark up members of the Hampton girls lacrosse team.

The Planets always had defense on their mind during a 12-5 Division II-Section 3 win over Hampton Tuesday night at the Mars Athletic Complex.

In Mars' three losses this season, the Planets have conceded 32 goals.

They are still working toward perfecting first-year coach Lindsay Flavion's concept of team defense.

Communicating with each other, Shannan said, is one step.

“Aggressiveness is the biggest thing,” said Shannan, who had a spot of blood on her knuckles after the game. “You don't want to be afraid of the ball. You always want to go for it no matter what.”

Mars limited the Talbots to 18 shots on goal and held Hampton without a goal for a stretch of 18 minutes in the second half.

The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Planets, who allowed 17 goals in losses to Peters Township and Blackhawk.

Mars also allowed 15 goals in a season-opening loss to Shaler, which is the defending WPIAL champion.

“We had a rough start and it's hard to come off a couple losses like that at the beginning of the season,” said junior Shannon Doyle, who scored five goals. “We had to put it in the back of the mind and play defense like we know we can play. Go back to the basics and work on that.”

Mars (2-3, 2-1) caught a break early, then found its footing on offense to bury the Talbots.

Yelena Kaminski took a penalty shot for Hampton (1-3, 1-2) that rang off the crossbar and bounced away from the goal around a minute in.

Cassianna Buzzelli put Mars ahead when she scored on an assist from Doyle with 23 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first half.

After Hampton's Jaqueline Adler tied the game, Doyle scored four minutes later to put Mars ahead for good.

It was the start of a 6-1 run that put the Planets ahead 7-2 at halftime.

“Everybody slid to the ball more, which we haven't been doing in the past games,” said Mars junior Eden Fletcher, who scored three goals. “I think we all tried to double more, which helped them lose the ball and cause more turnovers.”

By building a big first-half advantage, Mars seemed more comfortable. The Planets scored the first four goals of the second half to stretch the lead to 11-2.

“Mars is a fast team, they were speedy in the midfield,” Talbots coach Kelsey Viets said. “We made mistakes and they were right there to pick up on them.”

Flavion thought the defense looked better when Mars was carded during the first half.

“We were a man down at one point and they executed it perfectly by communicating with each other and being able to hold off the attack,” Flavion said.

Kelly O'Connell (two) and Lilli Marcoux also scored for Mars.

Defensively, everyone moved closer to being on the same page.

“The main point was communication and team bonding,” Shannan said.