Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse comes back to knock off Boston College High (video)

NASHUA - Every time the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team tried to go on a run, for three quarters, Boston College High had an answer.

Down as many as four goals in the first half, the Cardinals would tie the game, or get within one, only to see the Eagles counter with a surge of their own, at least until the fourth quarter.

With the game tied going into the final dozen minutes Sunday, Bishop Guertin finally went in front less than a minute in and dominated the fourth quarter on the way to a 20-14 win over BC High at Nashua's Stellos Stadium.

Connor Guibord had four goals, including one that tied the game at the end of the third quarter and one that put the Cardinals up for good 46 seconds into the fourth, to go with an assist. Connor Bouvier also had four goals and an assist, with two goals coming in the fourth, and Tim Kiely had all three of his goals in the final nine minutes to go with two assists.

"Keep on coming," Kiely said of the team's focus. "We’ve run into trouble completing a full game. I feel like (Sunday), after that first quarter, it was a complete game. No mistakes, all of us kept believing we could come back. The thing about this team is that we won’t give up."

Brady Dumont also had three goals and two assists and Caleb Yeung had three goals and one assist, while Aiden Laurendeau scored twice and had two assists and Jacob Caron had a goal and an assist. Will Murphy finished with 12 saves and Paulo Vazquez and Noah Zeman combined to go 45 percent on faceoffs, but won 6 of 7 seven in the fourth quarter.

The 20 goals scored matched a season-high for the Cardinals (13-3) and are the most goals allowed in a game by the Eagles in recent memory. It was also Bishop Guertin's fourth win in a row against BC High (15-2), dating back to 2018.

But through 12 minutes, it didn't look like any of that was possible.

"We were close to getting blown out," Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. "We did not have an answer for them at all. I was worried. It wasn’t like a goalie was playing bad. We were doing it again, turnovers, failed clears, and then they were winning all the faceoffs."

After Bishop Guertin took a 1-0 lead in the first two minutes, BC High answered with two goals in 17 seconds. The Cardinals tied the game, but the Eagles responded with a 4-0 run to take a 6-2 lead, with Will Emsing scoring three of his game-high seven goals during that stretch.

Caron scored with 10.2 seconds left in the first to get Bishop Guertin back within three and the Cardinals carried that momentum into the second quarter, tying the game at 6 on back-to-back goals by Yeung with 8:32 to go until halftime.

But BC High needed just 13 seconds to go back in front, as Cooper Chapman (three goals, one assist) and Emsing scored less than a minute apart for an 8-6 lead. The Eagles took a timeout with 6:11 left in the half and needed just seven seconds for Patrick Maroney (two goals, two assists) to score to make it 9-6.

The Eagles' lead got up to four again, 11-7, on a goal by Emsing with 2:14 to play in the half, but Bouvier gave the Cardinals some momentum going into the break, scoring with 11.9 seconds to go to cut the lead to three.

Bishop Guertin opened the third with another 3-0 run to tie the game at 11 with 7;24 left in the quarter, but again, BC High answered with goals from Chapman and Emsing to go back in front by two.

"Every time, they had an answer," Cameron said. "They’re so explosive that any mistakes we made, they’re going to make you pay every single time. They’re attack was dynamic and explosive. I knew we were going to be challenged."

The Cardinals tied it again on goals by Dumont and Yeung only to see Luke Allen (one goal, two assists) scored less than a minute later to make it 14-13 Eagles. BC High's Shane McDonnell won the ensuing faceoff, but the Eagles turned the ball over, and with 6.3 seconds remaining, Guibord tied the game at 14.

Bishop Guertin won the faceoff to start the fourth, and just 46 seconds into the quarter, Guibord scored again to give the Cardinals' their first lead since early in the game.

"(Guibord) got one in the third and we just started to keep feeling like ourselves," Kiely said. "That was a big one because we didn’t look back."

Bouvier and Kiely added two more goals 44 seconds apart to give Bishop Guertin a 17-14 lead with 8:53 to play and momentum had completely swung. The Cardinals kept possession for most of the first nine minutes of the quarter and the Eagles didn't attempt a shot until the final minute, when they were down six goals.

"I think we had the ball for eight minutes in a row," Cameron said. "Hopefully this is our identity. Sometimes they feed off you and I got worked up against St. John’s (on Tuesday), so my thing was just staying cool. You could see it. This team, these guys love each other. They realize everybody has a role and everybody has embraced a role."