Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse dominates first half to beat Souhegan in D1 semifinal
EXETER - It wasn’t close from the start, and it’s exactly how the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team drew it up. The top-seeded Cardinals scored three goals in the opening three minutes and never looked back as they rolled No. 4 Souhegan 17-3 in the second Division I boys lacrosse semifin
EXETER - It wasn’t close from the start, and it’s exactly how the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team drew it up.
The top-seeded Cardinals scored three goals in the opening three minutes and never looked back as they rolled No. 4 Souhegan 17-3 in the second Division I boys lacrosse semifinal Tuesday at Eustis Field.
“We came in playing at a very high level,” Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. "It’s been a very focused group this year, and they came out ready to play. We shot the ball well (Tuesday).”
It was never close, as the Cardinals led 12-0 at halftime and got scoring across the lineup. Bishop Guertin (18-2, No. 1 in the NHHSS Coaches Poll) found scoring across the lineup as five players notch at least two points.
Sean Cameron and TJ Quigley each had a hat trick for Guertin, and Ben Abladian had three goals and three assists. Cameron also assisted on three goals. Alex Koutsos had three goals from midfield, and Dawson Clark had a goal and two assists.
“(We had to) just to come out, play fast, and get everyone involved,” Koutsos said. “I think we did all that and it came together real well.”
The Cardinals led 6-0 after a quarter and didn’t allow Souhegan (13-6, No. 5) to score until 4:30 into the second half. Bishop Guertin won faceoffs 17-2 and ground balls 23-8. Add in a 47-18 shots advantage and it was all Cardinals for 48 minutes.
Souhegan senior Tyler Hall had two goals and an assist for the Sabers.
Bishop Guertin never let its foot off the gas and earned a spot its its 15th consecutive state final. The Cardinals will look to avenge last year’s 11-9 loss to Pinkerton that spoiled an unbeaten season on the final day.
“We’re going for eight out of 10, they’re going for back to back,” Cameron said. “There’s a lot on the line. Last year was a special team for us, and in one game anything can happen. Last year they faced off and made saves. That’s not going to happen again.”
The Cardinals have continually improved the last month of the season after losing to Massachusetts power Xaverian Brothers 9-4 back on May 2. Bishop Guertin has gone 11-0 since then including wins over Massachusetts schools BC High and Duxbury, and victories by wide margins over Hanover, Exeter and now Souhegan.
Saturday’s game will be a matchup between the state’s best that are playing their best lacrosse at the right time.
Cameron said that while Pinkerton will have a faceoff advantage with Gennaro Marra, his squad will be looking to flex its muscle defensively to power a run to the win.
“We’re not going to win the faceoff battle, but our two kids (JJ Murphy and Steve Bouchard) are pretty good,” Cameron said. “We’d be happy to go 25 percent, but we’re focused on defensive stops. They know us, we know them. We’re not going to be flat like we were last year. Last year, we were never challenged. This year we had to come back at BC High. Needham, we lost to. Xaverian we lost to. We’re more battle tested this year.”
