Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse cruises past Londonderry

NASHUA - Chris Cameron views saves as something that can make a huge difference in a lacrosse game.

On Thursday, Colin Casey showed why.

The Bishop Guertin High School sophomore goalie made a handful of big ones in the first half against Londonderry, while the Cardinals offense went on a 7-0 run to take control of the game. The Lancers rallied in the fourth quarter, but Bishop Guertin was able to hold on 14-5 for its fifth win in a row.

Casey finished the game with 12 stops while Charlie O'Brien (one assist) and Gage Sevigny had four goals apiece. Alex Astarita added a goal and four helpers while Tim Hinrichs had a two goals and an assist.

"Saves are such a big thing," Cameron said. "Instead of a goal, you're going the other way on offense, and that's where we're at our best, in transition. That was big for us. He came up with some great saves."

The Cardinals (6-1), behind Jack McNallen and Dillon Hayes, also dominated on faceoffs and the combination was too much for Londonderry (2-2) to overcome early.

"With BG, you're up against two things," Londonderry coach Sean LeBlanc said. "They're going to win the faceoffs and they're going to get possessions, and they have a great defense, including their goalie, Colin Casey. He played great. When you're against a team where you can’t get the ball, you want to avoid being down early. We went down early."

The Lancers mixed things up in the second half, putting Matt Rimol in on faceoffs, and Londonderry was able to win some in the second half.

"They have two fantastic faceoff guys," LeBlanc said. "We did our best to compete, but those guys are going to get possessions every single game. We tried to mix it up. We threw a long stick on the faceoff, anything we can do to compete. I was happy with the second half, we went down and battled."

Londonderry got two goals from Len Carroll while Dave Wiedenfield had a goal and an assist. Chris Rowan made 13 saves in goal.

For the Cardinals, it was the third win of the week in a game they were focused on despite a big road victory over Needham (Mass.) on Tuesday.

"When you have a hangover game at home, it seems to be a big advantage," Cameron said. "Londonderry has our full respect. They have some great players. We're deeper, but we knew they were going to hit and they play physical."

Both teams are on the road on Saturday, as Bishop Guertin heads to Manchester Memorial, while Londonderry takes on Pinkerton.