Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse continues to roll, beats St. Joseph's

MANCHESTER - When the St. Joseph's High School boys lacrosse team scored the first goal on Saturday, head coach Marc Moreau thought it could be the start of a run.

It was, just not for the team Moreau had hoped.

After the Falcons took a 1-0 lead early against Bishop Guertin, the Cardinals answered with an 11-0 run to close out the first half, and cruised in the second half to a 16-3 win over the team from Metuchen, N.J., at the Derryfield School.

Ten different players scored for Bishop Guertin (5-0), led by Alex Astarita with three goals. Connor Donahue added two goals and three assists and Tom Hurley and John Miller also had two goals each. Nick Prunier (assist), Gage Sevigny, Anthony Reale, John Karanasios, Garrett Bozek and Mike O'Reilly each chipped in with a goal as well.

Kyle Stenberg had two goals for St. Joseph's, while Brian Mills also scored and Paul Lacki had two assists.

"That was the best half we’ve played in a long time," Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. "Our goalie was tested and made saves. Our defensive slides were there. We didn't shoot the ball as well, but that might have been the rain. Their goalie made some nice saves.

"Our transition and athleticism in the middle of the field, we just kept getting the ball over and over again. We had good fast breaks. That’s one thing that had been lacking this year, is the transition, but we got that going (Saturday)."

The Cardinals were able to control possession thanks to the work of Jack McNallen on faceoffs.

"I felt like we could get down early like that if we were going to win faceoffs, but we weren't winning faceoffs," Moreau said. "It's tough to get back in the game when you don't get faceoffs. Bishop Guertin is a very strong team and they got some momentum and it went downhill fast. We weren't able to recover."

This was the fifth year in a row the teams had played, but the first time in New Hampshire. Last year's game - won by the Cardinals - was close, and both coaches thought this season could be similar.

"I think this is a more complete team than we've seen in the last couple of years," Moreau said. "Not that the last couple of years haven't been good. They seem to be more of a complete team. They are solid from the goal right down to their attack. They're going to be tough to beat all year."

Bishop Guertin will face a few challenges over the next week. The Cardinals face division foes Manchester Memorial on Monday and Nashua South on Thursday before a showdown with Lincoln-Sudbury on Saturday. The Warriors, who are one of the top ranked teams in Massachusetts, will come to Nashua for a 5 p.m. game at Rivier University.

Then on May 5, the Cardinals will host Pinkerton Academy at 7 p.m. at Stellos Stadium.