Adjustments, consistency led to turnaround for Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse

Steve Lydon was trying to be realistic Saturday, when his Boston College High School boys lacrosse team took a five-goal lead over Bishop Guertin into halftime.

The Eagles coach knew that the chances of that lead doubling were slim, that at some point, the Cardinals were going to go on a run and that five-goal cushion would be crucial in BC High's 10-9 win.

Lydon just didn't think that lead would shrink as quickly as it did, as Bishop Guertin opened the second half by scoring three goals in 1:24, getting the lead down to two.

"We knew it was coming," the coach said. "We had a five-goal lead going into the half and we knew it wasn't going to be a 10-goal game by any means. They're a championship team and they're good everywhere."

All three goals came off faceoff wins by senior Christian Trahan, who had struggled in the first half against BC High's Colin Carroll.

"He's great but he struggled in the first half," Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. "That was the difference. The way you stop runs is by winning faceoffs and we didn't do that in the first half. In the second half, he was fantastic. That's what we expect of him because that's what he's capable of."

Carroll won all five faceoffs in the first quarter and was 7 of 11 for the first half, but Trahan dominated the second half, winning 10 of 11. On the first faceoff of the third, Kyle Fisher scooped up the groundball and walked alone into the Eagles' end, scoring 17 seconds into the half.

But after Bishop Guertin had that initial burst to start the half, the Eagles took a timeout and regrouped. While the Cardinals controlled possession for most of the half, BC High buckled down defensively.

The Cardinals took 30 shots in the second half, and while Eagles' goalie Pat O'Driscoll made seven saves in the half, about half the shots were off the mark.

"They had a good defenseman (Will Bowen) but Brian (Cameron) handled that matchup," Chris Cameron said. "They were zoning it up on him and sending doubles. We didn't do a good enough job in the first half. Second half, we were moving and it got guys open. We adjusted nicely in the second half. Their goalie made saves down the stretch."

Brian Cameron finished with just two goals, both of which came in the second half, as Bishop Guertin tried to find ways to distribute the ball and stay ahead of the double team. It resulted in seven different players scoring goals for the Cardinals, but no one had more than two.

"Brian had to give himself up because the double team was coming," Chris Cameron said. "He had to draw that slide and move them. We had to get our middies more involved off the dodge. There was more of a flow to our offense. If we didn't have that lull in the second quarter, it would have been a different game."

That lull was part of a continuing trend for Bishop Guertin in its bigger games of the regular season. In the Cardinals' loss to Pinkerton, and in wins over Needham and Reading, they struggled at times to get - and hold on to - possession.

"The first half was how we played against Pinkerton," Chris Cameron said. "We didn't play well and to their credit they did. Same thing (Saturday), BC High played well and we didn't. We’ve got to start working on playing 48 minutes. I think it's there."