Bedford boys lacrosse withstands Nashua South comeback to get win (video)

NASHUA - For more than three quarters Monday, the Bedford High School boys lacrosse team put out some of its best play all season.

But it's the final seven minutes where the Bulldogs will be focused.

Bedford took an 8-3 lead into the fourth quarter, but saw Nashua South put together a frenzied comeback that made it a one-goal game in the final minute before the Bulldogs were able to hang on for a 9-8 win over the Panthers in a Division I game at Stellos Stadium.

South scored three goals in the final six-plus minutes, including one by Nate Campbell with 57.3 seconds remaining to cut the Bedford lead to one, and got possession after a procedural call against the Bulldogs on the faceoff. Matt Desmond came up with a save in the final seconds to preserve the lead and stop a three-game losing skid for Bedford (8-8).

"We had to switch up our defense," Desmond said of the final quarter. "We kept dropping into our zone and it wasn’t working, they were getting too many (goals). We switched back to man and doing slides to the crease. Luckily, we were able to pull this one out."

Desmond finished with 17 saves while Derek Kulesza and Zack Griffin each had three goals. Colton Poole also scored twice and Sean Toscano had a goal and an assist while Tyler Doldo and Luke Purnell each added a helper.

"They played their hearts out," Bedford coach Matt Johansmeyer said. "We had guys playing in different positions, trying to fill some holes for guys that were out. I couldn’t be more proud of the group and those guys that had to take on different positions. They earned it for us."

South (10-4, No. 6 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) got three goals and two assists from Connor Rowsell and three goals from Campbell. Griffin Johnson and Rhett Medling each had a goal and an assist and Ethan Johnson made 11 saves.

"We definitely played hard in the second half," South coach Bill Monsen said. "We waited, unfortunately, until the fourth quarter to really come alive. Credit to Bedford, they played great, their goalie played awesome. They made our kids have to earn it. Their offense, they were clicking quite a bit. They won their matchups and took advantage of some mistakes that we made."

Each team scored in the opening two minutes of the game and it remained tied at 1 for most of the first quarter, until Kulesza put Bedford up with 1:49 remaining in the frame. Medling tied it back up for the Panthers 1:18 into the second quarter, but Poole answered less than two minutes later to give the Bulldogs the lead for good.

Bedford kept possession for a long stretch in the middle of the quarter and finally broke through on a goal by Griffin with 3:06 to play in the half. The junior followed it up 56 seconds later with another goal to make it 5-2, a lead the Bulldogs were able to take into the half because of a fortuitous play by Desmond.

With time winding down in the half, the senior goalie couldn't find an open teammate on the clear and decided to try to run the ball over midfield on his, which he had done to set up Bedford's previous goal. But the Bulldogs ran out of time to advance about 10 yards short, and after dropping the ball, Desmond sprinted back toward his goal.

Rowsell picked up the ball and started to advance, but shot the ball when he realized no one was in the crease. Desmond caught it about 15 yards away from his net and the Bulldogs took a timeout.

"It’s funny, coach (Johansmeyer) always says, if I make it past the 50-yard line, he’s calling a timeout, which he did earlier," Desmond said. "I didn’t realize how low we were on the clock. Luckily, he shot it back into my stick and I was able to get it right out."

Bedford was on the end of another break in the third quarter. After South had a couple of chances to open the half, the Bulldogs had an opportunity of their own, getting a couple of shots off.

But it looked like the Panthers made a stop when Cody Goode forced a turnover and picked up the groundball. The junior tried to flip the ball back to Ethan Johnson, but the goalie had already left the net to assist with the clear, and the pass went right to Kulesza, who put it in the empty net for a 6-2 lead.

"It’s a good momentum swinger and it gets guys excited," Johansmeyer said. "We were playing with energy and confidence and that’s what we’ve been begging to get out of them all year. We’re trying to get that with some consistency. Our youth showed a little bit down the stretch with some of the decisions we were making."

Griffin and Toscano scored in the final 2:37 of the third quarter to give Bedford its 8-3 lead going into the fourth, but a slash on Brendan Thornton early in the final quarter gave South an opportunity.

Campbell scored seconds after the manup ended to make it 8-4 and Rowswell made it a three-goal game just 25 seconds later. The Bulldogs seemed to squash some of that momentum, as they won the ensuing faceoff and Poole scored 39 seconds later to give Bedford a 9-5 lead with 8:04 to play.

But the Panthers stepped up their pressure on defense, forcing the Bulldogs into quick shots that South was able to turn into possessions.

"Defensively, we had no choice but to press out," Monsen said. "In hindsight, I wish we’d just pressed out on ball and locked off adjacents all game because it put their offense in a tough spot. They had to hurry up on their offense, we’re getting on their hands and giving Ethan a shot.

"We were pressing on transition, we were winning groundballs, we actually moved the ball and moved offball. We were not playing one-dimensional."

A manup goal by Campbell with 6:33 to play made it 9-6, but took South time to get any closer thanks to a handful of saves by Desmond.

"It starts with Desmond and then our three guys down low are just warriors," Johansmeyer said. "They owned their matchups. They played the way we needed them to."

Rowsell made it 9-7 with 2:05 to go, and after Campbell scored to make it one-goal game, Dalton Roberto scooped up a groundball on the face. But the Bedford junior had his stick knocked out of his with the ball staying in it, giving the Panthers possession with 54 seconds remaining.

With the Bulldogs' defense pressuring, South struggled to get a shot until about 12 seconds remained. The Panthers maintained possession and Campbell got a contested look from out front, but Desmond came up with the stop.

"I love the fight in my kids," Monsen said. "They played their tails off. To have a chance at the end, I look back, I wish I’d called a timeout, but they were running around, we had momentum. We had our best kids with the ball. We took some good shots, the kid made a good save. We just ran out of gas there a little bit."