Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse takes care of business in win over Pinkerton (video)

NASHUA - It was happening again to the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team.

The Cardinals were rolling Thursday against Pinkerton Academy, up 6-0 in the second quarter, when the Astros started coming back.

They cut the lead in half, and after a faceoff win for Pinkerton and a penalty on Bishop Guertin, it looked like the Cardinals might escape the man-down situation unscathed. Instead they threw the ball away and Cardinals coach Chris Cameron called a timeout.

"I took at timeout and I said ‘guys don’t do this to yourselves,'" the coach said. "It’s self-inflicted wounds. We do it to ourselves. I took a timeout. We were playing to their level. To their credit, they picked it up. When you’re down 6-0, they could have went away, but they battled back, and they were forcing us into (mistakes). Sometimes, timeouts are magical."

But out of the timeout, Bishop Guertin forced a mistake, turned it into a goal just before halftime, and put the game away in the third quarter for a 16-6 win over Pinkerton at Stellos Stadium.

It was the Cardinals' fifth-straight win over the Astros and their 45th consecutive victory against in-state competition, going back to the 2019 Division I championship game.

Connor Bouvier led Bishop Guertin (12-3, No. 1 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) with four goals and an assist while Caleb Yeung had three goals and an assist. Brady Dumont (two assists), Connor Guibord (one) and Aiden Laurendeau had two goals apiece and Tim Kiely had a goal three assists.

"When you have so many good offensive guys, sharing the ball is a big thing, and as each game goes on and on, we’re becoming more unselfish and sharing the ball," Cameron said. "Each game it’s a different guy. Other than that five-minute stretch, we were good."

Michael Uber had three goals to lead Pinkerton (11-5, No. 3), with two of those coming during the Astros' 3-0 in the second quarter that cut the Bishop Guertin lead in half. Adam Scala, Ryan Lynch and Cole Frank added a goal apiece and Matt Feole had an assist.

"Certainly didn’t bring our best," Pinkerton coach Steve Gaudreau said. "At the end of the day, we got outplayed. That wasn’t the effort we were looking for, and give credit to BG, they outplayed us, plan and simple."

Pinkerton opened the game the way it wanted to, winning the faceoff and keeping possession for most of the first four minutes. But two turnovers by the Astros set up goals by Yeung midway through the first and Bouvier added his first goal to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead after one.

"We didn’t capitalize," Gaudreau said. "That’s the thing, we’ve played some of these games against these big teams, and against a high-level team, if you don’t capitalize on the opportunities that are there, you go from a single-digit game to what we had. Not capitalizing early set us back."

Bishop Guertin tacked on three more goals in the first 3:34 of the second quarter for a 6-0 lead, and after winning the ensuing faceoff, it looked like the Cardinals might get more.

But this time, a Bishop Guertin turnover led to a goal by Uber to make it 6-1 and Frank followed with a goal off the faceoff. Another goal from Uber made it 6-3 with 5:20 to go in the half, and although the Cardinals got one back, the miscues continued enough to get Cameron to take a timeout with 3:17 remaining until halftime.

"Out of their first three goals, we missed some slides, missed some assignments, and they knew it, too," he said. "Those things will come back to bite you that we have to clean up. We had a stretch where we were turning it over and struggled clearing it, but other than a few times, we were good. We rode well, played good six-on-six defense.

"Other than a five-minute stretch in the second quarter, it was as complete a game as we’ve played."

Dumont scored before halftime to make it 8-3 and Bouvier added two more to start the third quarter to give Bishop Guertin a seven-goal lead. Guibord and Kiely scored 30 seconds apart to open the fourth to make a 10-goal game.

"We were hoping to compete a little bit better, but there’s no doubt, you watch enough lacrosse in this state, you’ve got to beat them to be where you want to be in the end," Gaudreau said. "On a positive note, we recognize that losing in this fashion, we didn’t play our best. It’s not like we lost and played as well as we could and we’re scratching our heads. We know what we have to do, it’s just that we’ve got to execute, win matchups and be better."