> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Bedford boys lacrosse plays well all around to get first win over Pinkerton since 2015 - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/bedford-boys-lacrosse-plays-well-all-around-to-get-first-win-over-pinkerton-since-2015/ - Published: 2024-04-16T18:00:03.000Z - Updated: 2024-04-16T18:00:03.000Z - Description: BEDFORD - Steve Gaudreau went into Monday night's game knowing it would be a challenge for his Pinkerton Academy boys lacrosse team to score against Bedford's defense. If the Astros were going to find the back of the net enough to win, it was going to have to come in unsettled situations or when Pin - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Division I, Bedford, boys lacrosse, NH High School Sports Insider, Pinkerton, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 BEDFORD - Steve Gaudreau went into Monday night's game knowing it would be a challenge for his Pinkerton Academy boys lacrosse team to score against Bedford's defense. If the Astros were going to find the back of the net enough to win, it was going to have to come in unsettled situations or when Pinkerton was a man up. Those things happened, but not nearly enough, as the Bulldogs' offense got going late in the first half of what turned into a 13-6 win over the Astros. It was the first time Bedford has beaten Pinkerton since the regular season in 2015 and just the third time overall. "I don’t care who you are in the state, you’re not scoring in a settled 6-on-6 against Bedford very much," Gaudreau said. "I think for us, we tried to push the ball. We talked about trying to push it. The good news is, those plays are there, we’re just not making those plays. We didn’t make enough of those plays (Monday)." Pinkerton scored the game's first goal just 59 seconds in, added three more off change of possession plays, and had one manup goal. That goal made it 7-6 Bedford (2-0, No. T3 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) with 1:08 left in the third quarter, but the Astros (2-2, No. 5) would go scoreless the rest of the way. "Huge testament to our ride," Bedford coach Drew Bourdeau said. "That’s a huge credit to Brody Helton and Bennett Matthews playing two ways, not just being offensive midfielders. Tristan Kerr was unbelievable in the middle of the field. Felt like we didn’t even, at times, play a lot of defense because our ride was just doing so well." Gaudreau credited the Bulldogs' experience on defense and size as to why they will have success shutting teams down. "They’ve had the same guys starting on defense for three years," he said. "They have a lot of guys who are 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-3, big and athletic, Division I football players and Division I lacrosse players. It’s a tough group. In my opinion, they’re up there with the best defense in the state. They’re going to be really tough to score on." Those returning guys include seniors Kevin Sheridan, Spencer Henrichon and Dylan Soden, along with Kerr, and junior Brian Riccio. "I say to them all the time, the best defense is when you don’t have to slide," Bourdeau said. "We have guys with a lot of experience, and if we don’t have to slide, it makes life so much easier off-ball, it doesn’t give them as many opportunities. I thought Ethan Conn made the saves that he had to make." #### Starting over Like many teams this spring, Bedford had a game rescheduled in the opening week of the season, with last Friday's game at Dover being moved to next week. The Bulldogs went six days between Monday's game and their opening win over Concord and Bourdeau thought it showed early against Pinkerton. "I think you could tell that we’ve only played one game and it was a week ago," he said. "It was almost like this was our first game all over again, so we kind of had those first-game jitters. Credit to (Pinkerton), they came out flying and were hyped up. Once we settled in, it was kind of the same thing as the Concord game, once we knew we could get one, we could start pumping them." Derek Kulesza got Bedford on the board with 1:30 left in the first quarter, tying the game at 1, but the Bulldogs went more than eight minutes between goals. Matthews scored with 4:48 remaining in the first half to start a 4-0 run going into the break. Kulesza finished the night with six goals while Matthews had three goals and five assists. "He's one we always point to on film," Bourdeau said of Kulesza. "He does the little things. We saw it at the end, where we started to get into a track meet, he just pulls it out and runs away. Those are the little things where he understands if we’ve played a tough possession on defense, and we need the ball and give them a rest. He’s a huge help on that side of the ball and understand when is the right time to push and when is the right time to slow it down." #### Facing off The battle at the faceoff X between Pinkerton sophomore Dylan Stingel and Bedford freshman Dylan Riccio turned into a game within the game. Stingel got the first one of the night to set up the opening goal by Matt Morrison, but Ricco finished the half winning 7 of 10\. After Bedford won the faceoff to open the second half, Stingel helped the Astros take the next nine. "Dylan Stingel battled," Gaudreau said. "It was kind of up and down. Dylan Riccio is a really good faceoff guy for Bedford. I thought they had a great battle. It seemed at one point, one guys was on top and the other guy is down and out. Then the other guy came back. That was a cool battle to see, especially since it’s a freshman against a sophomore." #### Up next - Bedford is back at home at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, when it hosts Lexington (Mass.). - Pinkerton returns home for a 5 p.m. start on Friday against Exeter.