Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse cruises to win over Exeter (video)

NASHUA - The Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team had been playing the best that coach Chris Cameron has seen all season.

With the team hosting Exeter in a matchup Monday of the top two teams in the Division I standings, the Cardinals ready for a test against an in-state opponent. The Blue Hawks, however, did not.

Bishop Guertin took advantage of a sloppy Exeter team to get out to a 10-0 lead in the first half and got the game into running time early in the third quarter on the way to a 16-7 win over the Blue Hawks at Stellos Stadium.

Sean Cameron led the Cardinals (11-2, No. 1 in the NHHSS Coaches Poll) with four goals and two assists while Dawson Clark and Ben Abladian added three goals and an assist apiece. Joe Lupo also had two goals and Chris Kiely and Alex Koutsos had a goal and an assist each while goalie James Heitmiller made eight saves.

"We’ve been playing better," Chris Cameron said. "Our kids we’re looking forward to it. We played well, but they were throwing the ball away all day. When you throw the ball away and our goalie is making saves, and we were just patient and balanced on offense, which is what we needed. We did everything right. We cleared the ball well. We only had three turnovers in the first half."

For Exeter (9-4, No. 3), it was a disappointing day all around, starting with a bus ride that ended up being twice as long as it should when the driver made a wrong turn on the way to Nashua.

"There’s no excuse," Exeter coach Gerry Holly said. "That’s the worst I’ve seen an Exeter team play in quite a while. They had no compete, no intensity, no focus. The stick skills were horrendous. It’s just too bad."

The Blue Hawks trailed 13-0 just 3:10 into the third quarter and didn't get on the board until Wyatt Carr scored the first of his two goals with 3:09 left in the frame. Hayden Lechner finished with three goals for Exeter while Connor Flanagan and Jake Mantell also scored and Henry Vogt made seven saves.

The game started in a steady rain that got worse as the day wore on, but the Cardinals didn't seem to notice. Bishop Guertin won the opening faceoff, and after his teammates missed on a pair of shots, Abladian gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead 1:22 into the game.

A little more than two minutes later, Aidan Ahearn capitalized on an Exeter turnover to go coast-to-coast and made it 2-0 with 8:01 remaining in the quarter. Clark scored his first goal with 6:25 to go in the first to make it 3-0 and the Blue Hawks took a timeout.

Exeter won the ensuing faceoff, but another turnover led to a transition goal by Lupo for a 4-0 Cardinals lead. In all, five of Bishop Guertin's goals in the first half came off transition following an Exeter turnover.

"On defense, we’re young, but as the season is going on, we’re getting better and better," Chris Cameron said. "They got a few quality shots, but when they did, our goalie was there to save it. We had good individual defense and good team defense. On offense, we were just making the extra pass and looking for the right matchup. Their goalie is very good, but we were just getting high-quality shots."

Bishop Guertin returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Boston College High at 4 p.m. at Rivier University. Exeter is off until Friday, when the Blue Hawks travel to Manchester to face Derryfield at 7 p.m.