Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse comes back late to top Needham

NASHUA - Chris Cameron thought the opportunities where there all Tuesday night for the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team, the offense just couldn't capitalize.

Fortunately for the Cardinals, in the final six minutes against Needham (Mass.), they finally did.

Bishop Guertin scored four goals in the final 5:55 of the fourth quarter, including two by Brian Cameron in the final 90 seconds, to get past the Rockets 8-7 in a game at Stellos Stadium.

"I didn't think we played poorly, we just left so many goals on the table," Chris Cameron said. "Guys open on the crease. They were sending doubles on the attack and we weren't converting.

"Also in transition, our speed was there, we're a fast team, but we didn't convert. Those guys played very slow and the game was at their pace. I think we wore them out a little bit because we played a lot of guys."

Cameron scored three goals - all of which came in that six-minute stretch at the end - and added an assist, while Sean Cameron also had three goals and Jonny Bruno had two goals and an assist for the Cardinals (2-0).

Colin Casey finished with 14 saves, including five in the first quarter that kept the game close, and one on Needham's final shot with about 40 seconds to play.

"Our defense kept us in it," Chris Cameron said. "Colin was sensational. Not only was he making the saves, but we were running on that. They're a good team, but we didn't play our best."

Jason Child led the Rockets (3-1) with four goals while Danny McEvoy added two and Eric O'Brien also scored. Austin Shaver made 15 saves in goal, three of which came early in the fourth quarter with Needham up 6-4 and Bishop Guertin pressing for a goal.

"We played well, but not well enough," Needham coach Dave Wainwright said. "I'm proud of the boys in terms of the effort. It wasn't for a lack of effort. We're playing one of the most consistent programs out there. We did the best we could with a young team."

The Cardinals got out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter on goals by Bruno and Sean Cameron, as Needham's defense, led by Sam Eisenstadt, locked down on Brian Cameron.

The Rockets tied the game by scoring twice in a 30-second span early in the second, and took a 3-2 lead on a goal by Child with 8:28 remaining in the half. Needham was able to dictate the pace for most of the second and third, thanks to its success on faceoffs.

"That gave them the possessions so they could play at their pace," Chris Cameron said. "Third quarter, we never had the ball."

Needham was able to stretch the lead to 6-3, but in the final minute of the third quarter, Sean Cameron scooped up an errant pass and fired a shot by a surprised Shaver to make it a two-goal game going into the fourth.

While Shaver and the Rockets defense held Bishop Guertin in check early in the fourth, Bishop Guertin's defense was forcing turnovers and keeping Needham from killing more clock.

Brian Cameron's first goal with 5:55 to play made it a one-goal game and Bruno tied it up with 3:23 left, but Needham's Joe Bruno won the faceoff and O'Brien scored to put the Rockets back in front just 58 seconds later.

After the teams went up and down the field a couple of times, Bruno forced a turnover at midfield and found Brian Cameron for the tying goal with 1:13 to play. Austin King won the ensuing faceoff for the Cardinals and Cameron scored again 11 seconds later to put Bishop Guertin on top.

"That was our only run of the game at the most important time," Chris Cameron said. "They did a good job. We've got to do a better job."

Needham won the faceoff, and after a timeout with 53.1 seconds to play, was able to get a shot off, but Casey came up with the save and the Cardinals got the ball to run out the clock.