Big first half helps lift Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse past Pinkerton (video)

NASHUA - Early season injuries have forced the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team to move players around on offense and go a little deeper into the lineup than expected.

The defense has been solid enough to give the Cardinals the opportunity to comfortably adjust to those changes.

Bishop Guertin held Pinkerton to just one goal through the first 26-plus minutes of Tuesday's game, including a scoreless second quarter in which the Astros struggled to maintain possession, and the Cardinals held off a late charge to win 14-8 at Stellos Stadium.

Aidan Ahearn and John Sullivan led the way defensively for Bishop Guertin (3-0) while Matt Cranney limited Pinkerton's Hunter Drouin to just one goal, the Astros' lone tally in the first half.

"Defensively, the job that Aidan Ahearn and John Sullivan, the constant pressure that they put on," Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. "And Matt Cranney was on Hunter Drouin and he held him to one goal. We didn’t try to limit his touches. I thought we did a good job taking him out. Ahearn usually take the other team’s top guy, but we elected to put him up in the ride and use him that way."

Freshman Brady Dumont had four goals to lead the Cardinals while Michael Kiely had two goals and three assists and Declan Wilkie finished with two goals and an assist. Tim Kiely also scored twice, as Bishop Guertin led 9-1 at halftime.

Xander Dunsmoor and Ahearn also had a goal and an assist apiece while Nick McGovern and Connor Bouvier had a goal each. Chris Heitmiller and Jon Krikorian each had two assists.

"We knew they’re pretty good and we were going to have to come out and play," Pinkerton coach Steve Gaudreau said. "It took us a while to adjust, I think. At this point in the year, clearly you’re making adjustments on the fly and you’re learning a lot about yourself in-game. The good news for us is I think the effort is there."

Riley Spellman and Joey Gallo each had three goals for the Astros (3-1) and Michael Uber also scored. Curtis Michaud made six saves for Pinkerton.

Drouin's goal with 7:57 left in the first quarter came just 13 seconds after a goal by Dunsmoor and made it 2-1 Bishop Guertin. Neither team would score again until Dumont got his first with just under three minutes remaining in the quarter.

The Astros were called for a penalty on the goal, giving the ball back to the Cardinals, and Michael Kiely scored a manup goal to make it 4-1. Back-to-back goals just 44 seconds apart early in the second gave Bishop Guertin a 6-1 lead and Wilkie scored with 6:48 remaining before halftime to make it 7-1 and force a Pinkerton timeout.

The Cardinals got goals from Tim Kiely and Bouvier in the final 2:13 of the quarter, but in between, the Bishop Guertin defense kept Pinkerton's offense from getting anything going.

The Astros turned the ball over seven times in the quarter and took just one shot.

"We struggled to clear the ball early on and I think we had a couple of good looks in transition," Gaudreau said. "We like to push the ball, but against a team like BG, that has the athletes in the middle of the field, you have to be careful and value possession. We got man-down, which didn’t help us. We want to be the aggressor and unfortunately that happens as a result of that."

The Bishop Guertin lead stretched to nine on McGovern's goal early in the third quarter, but Pinkerton outscored the Cardinals 3-1 over the rest of the frame to make it an 11-4 game going into the fourth.

Gallo scored 56 seconds into the quarter to make it 11-5, but the Astros could get no closer than six goals, as the teams traded scores the rest of the way.

"We’ve got to make some adjustments because of what happened in the second half," Cameron said. "It was a flat performance in the second half."

The teams will play again at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday in Derry.

"One day of recovery and then we get back after it," Gaudreau said. "We’re taking the approach that we’ll watch film (Wednesday) and get an idea for how we want to go about things. The hope is that we see them at some point down the road and that will be the game we really have to gear up for."