Bishop Guertin field hockey picks up big road win against Dover

DOVER - Both the Bishop Guertin and Dover High School field hockey teams knew they’ll be a part of next week’s Division I tournament, which made Wednesday afternoon’s matchup all about jockeying for positioning and providing a nice tuneup.

The Cardinals also left satisfied with a quality road win late in the last week of the regular season.

Bishop Guertin senior Sarah Coyle’s goal early in the game proved to be enough and the Cardinals tacked on a pair second-half goals for the 3-0 Division I victory.

“It’s a big win for us, because with the season winding down, we need to come out with wins,” Coyle said.  “We want to get a home game in playoffs. It’d mean a lot to us, especially us seniors.

With a fourth straight win, Bishop Guertin (8-5) did clinch that home game in next Tuesday’s prelims of the 11-team tournament. The Cardinals are currently tied with Merrimack (8-5) for seventh place and they’ll wrap up the regular season at home on Thursday against Timberlane (6-7).

“We’ve had a tough time getting going the right away, and that was our emphasis right off the bus (Wednesday). To make sure we’re ready and make sure we’re ready to play,” Bishop Guertin coach Steve Duprat said. “We got it done. That’s a great win going into the playoffs. We’ve got another big one against Timberlane, and hopefully that momentum continues.”

Dover (9-4) is tied for fifth with Concord (9-4) and could possibly claim a top five seed and bye into the quarterfinals with a win in Friday’s finale at defending Division I champion Winnacunnet (10-3). The Green Wave are  guaranteed to at least host a prelim game.

“We knew that coming into these last two games of the season with BG and Winnacunnet that they were probably going to be two of our harder games of the season,” Dover coach Sarah Michaud said. “I’m really proud of how our team played. I think we controlled the majority of the game but just couldn’t finish. Unfortunately, when the ball was in our circle, they got some touches and were able to score.”

The Cardinals took advantage of its second penalty corner of the day when Coyle - a Northeastern University commit - got enough on her backhand shot to get through the legs of Dover goalie Kylie Nelson-Marois (three saves) to give Bishop Guertin a 1-0 lead with 23:30 left in the first half.

“It was a reverse chip. I took two of those in the game before and they were pretty good shots that went into the corner,” Coyle said. “(Wednesday), I felt like I scuffed it and it hit someone’s foot, trickled into the goal. It counted and that’s all that matters.”

After Bishop Guertin goalie Monina Tosi (three saves) stopped a Jeannine Turgeon shot off a penalty corner with 10 minutes left in the first half, Nelson-Marois came up with a key save off a Lindsay Hult rebound to keep Dover within 1-0 entering halftime.

Dover controlled the opening minutes of the second half, but Bishop Guertin cleared a penalty corner and was shortly awarded on an ensuing trip down the field. Coyle eventually got a piece of the ball and sophomore Rylee Bouvier was there to bank in the pass to give Bishop Guertin a 2-0 lead with 21:09 left in the second half.

“Sarah hit it, it kept bouncing around, the goalie hit it and it was kind of crazy,” Bouvier said. “I just saw the ball in front of the line and hit it in.”

Turgeon was awarded a free stroke following an infraction midway through the second half, but she hit the left post. Elise Harnish then capped off the game’s scoring six minutes later off a Hult assist.

“I think we’re ready,” Duprat said. “Obviously, the tournament is a different animal and we’ve got to be ready to play right away.”