Big second half gives Bishop Guertin field hockey win over Londonderry

NASHUA - Steve Duprat believes the Bishop Guertin High School field hockey team to be rather resilient this season.

In Wednesday's Division I opener, the Cardinals proved their coach right.

After dominating play for most of the first half against Londonderry, Bishop Guertin found itself trailing by a goal with a little under 12 minutes to go before halftime.

No matter, as the Cardinals went back to controlling the possession after the Lancers' score, and tied things up in the final minute of the half. Bishop Guertin came out strong in the second half, scoring three times on the way to a 4-1 win over Londonderry at Stellos Stadium.

"It’s going to be a different game mentally, but I think the group knew it was just a matter of time before we’d get one," Duprat said. "They kept the pressure up. I think the youth we had last year didn’t understand to keep pressing and keep pushing, it’s going to happen. This year, I think they’re resilient."

Sarah Coyle led the way for Bishop Guertin (1-0), knocking in two goals and adding an assist, while McKenna Gosselin and Cassandra Zaino also scored and Katie Lupo and Emily Foltan each had an assist.

Londonderry's lone goal came off the stick of Courtney Shay with 11:50 left in the first half to give the Lancers (0-1) a 1-0 lead. Allie Marsh got the assist.

Before that, Londonderry had been forced to play a lot of defense and managed to keep the Cardinals from scoring.

"They put a lot of pressure on us in the beginning, so it might have been a little bit of relief for us and we might have let our guard down," Londonderry coach Nichole Treadway said. "Sometimes teams let down after a goal. They think ‘we’re good, we have that security’ and then if you let up, most goals happen quickly after that goal."

Coyle scored both her goals off corners, but both came in different ways. The sophomore's first goal, which tied the game in the first half, came after a save by Londonderry's Riley Walter. The ball was deflected high on the way in and landed in the netting of the goal.

The second goal was a off a set play, as Coyle converted the pass into the circle, drilling it into the near corner of the cage.

That score was part of a big turnaround for Bishop Guertin, which was just 1 of 10 on corners in the first half, but converted 2 of 4 in the second.

"We capitalized on opportunities that were there in the first half," Duprat said. "That’s a lot of missed opportunities to leave on the field. In the second half, we fixed some things and our feet got better. We kept moving and we wore them out a little bit, rotating constant subs in."

Bishop Guertin goalie Makena Leazer finished with four saves, while Walter had 15 saves, most of which came in the first half.

"Our goalie is a freshman and I think she was extremely nervous," Treadway said. "Just getting those first-game jitters and those first couple of shots (was big). When we called that first timeout (six minutes into the game), it was to adjust the defense because they were throwing two people up high. I think after coming together and took a breather and realized what was going on, they kind of settled in."

Bishop Guertin goes on the road to face Concord on Thursday, while Londonderry returns home to host Timberlane on Friday.