Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse getting tested early in season

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - This year's Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team looks a little different than some of the previous ones.

The Cardinals went into this season having to replace 18 players from a year ago, many of whom were not just key to last year's Division I championship win, but played a role on the last three title-winning teams.

While Bishop Guertin has a talented bunch ready to step in, there is one key thing many of those players don't have yet - experience.

That showed at times during the Cardinals' game Tuesday night against St. John's Prep, of Danvers, Mass. Bishop Guertin (2-1, No. 1 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) had a lead late in the third quarter, but didn't score in the fourth in a 10-7 loss to the Eagles at Merrimack College's Duane Stadium.

"It was our first true test and we’re a young team, we have a lot of younger players out there," Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. "That youth kind of came through in lots of areas. We had a lead at one point, then we were 7-7, knocking on the door. We had our chances.

"That was not a three-goal game because we had to press out a little bit there. The youth came through, we played tough, and there were a lot of things, we knew what we had, and we prepared for a lot of these situations and we didn’t execute."

With the Eagles focused on taking away seniors Brady Dumont and Caleb Yeung on offense - the duo combined for three goals and two assists - other players had to step up. While there was balanced scoring, with Cam Hayden (two goals), Jeremy Warren and Hudson Schmitt finding the back of the net, the offense needed to find a way to get more.

"Those guys stepped up," Cameron said. "There were a lot of plays that could have been winning plays were losing plays in that fourth quarter. We need to make winning plays to beat a team like that. We had opportunities.

"We’re not as deep as we’ve been in the past and they’re going to put all of their attention on Brady Dumont and Caleb Yeung, and that’s what we saw. We did have some other guys step up, but we have to do a better job opening things up for (Dumont and Yeung)."

The loss was the first time the Cardinals have been held to single digits since the season-opener last season, when Bishop Guertin beat Hingham (Mass.) 7-6 in overtime. That game, and Tuesday's game, are the fewest goals the Cardinals have scored in game since May 2, 2019, when they scored just four in a loss at Xaverian Brothers, of Westwood, Mass.

Defensively, Bishop Guertin was solid, holding St. John's to its lowest total of the season. The Eagles (5-0) have averaged 12.6 goals per game so far this year.

"We did an unbelievable job of putting the ball on the ground (on defense), we just missed first-time grounders," Cameron said. "I had to use timeouts because we put ourselves in bad spots clearing the ball. They created a pole on a pole situation, so we have to do a better job getting the ball to our short sticks."

Bishop Guertin won't have to wait long to improve on the loss, with Staples, of Westport, Conn., coming to Stellos Stadium for a 1:30 p.m. faceoff on Saturday. Despite a 3-3 record, the Wreckers are ranked No. 5 in Connecticut by Lax Numbers.

After that, the Cardinals resume their in-state schedule by hosting Bedford (3-0) at 6 p.m. April 23 and then going to Exeter (4-0) for a 5:30 p.m. start on April 26.

"You look at Staples, they don’t score a lot, but they don’t give up a lot," Cameron said. "We’ll be better, we’ll be rested."