Bishop Guertin field hockey picks up much-needed win over Merrimack (video)

MERRIMACK - The start of the second half of Friday's game had a familiar feel to the Bishop Guertin High School field hockey team.

A slow start led to a few breakdowns, and eventually, the game-tying goal by Merrimack. But against the Tomahawks, the Cardinals immediately bounced back.

Bishop Guertin was able to keep the ball in Merrimack's end for most of the next 18 minutes, getting seven penalty corners during that stretch, before a shot by Sarah Coyle deflected off a defender's stick into the goal, as the Cardinals beat Merrimack 2-1 in a Division I game.

The goal came with 9:50 left in regulation, and the Tomahawks came back with a furious response, getting three late corners of their own, but Bishop Guertin goalie Moninia Tosi and the defense were able to keep Merrimack from forcing overtime.

"We all knew we had to go all out and give it our all," Tosi said of the final moments. "We just had to do everything we could to not let them score in the last few minutes.

"It gets really stressful because we know we don’t want to go into overtime, especially with it being their senior night. We know they want to win just as much as we do. We had to hold out, but we had to just work together."

Tosi finished with 10 saves, including one on a penalty stroke at the start of the second half that preserved Bishop Guertin's 1-0 lead. Brooke Yabroudy scored midway through the first half to give the Cardinals (5-5) the lead while Rylee Bouvier and Britney Pearson each had an assist.

"We came out strong and we had a presence that we knew we had to win this game, put the pressure on them right away," Bishop Guertin coach Steve Duprat said. "That’s the biggest thing, coming out hard and strong. We didn’t get it right away and I think that set the tone.

"Our goalie coming up with a big save on the stroke is huge. At that point, it’d be a 1-1 game and who knows what happens in the next flurry, because then it could be a 2-1 game and it’s completely flipped. Thankfully that save gave us a little momentum. She played great (Friday)."

Theresa Twardosky, who took the stroke, had Merrimack's goal, scoring less than two minutes after Tosi came up with the save on the stroke. Demetria Gonzalez got an assist on the goal and Tomahawks goalie Heather Rohr finished with nine saves.

"The girls did some nice things," Merrimack coach Anne MacLean said. "We had some good defensive plays, we had some good offensive plays, but we just have to work on the finish. The scrappiness in front of the goal, attacking the goalie pads, the sense of urgency is what we have to work on. That has to come from within."

The urgency was there right after halftime for Merrimack (6-5), as the Tomahawks continued to put pressure on even after Tosi's save on the stroke. The Cardinals' goalie made five saves early in the half, but after Merrimack got the tying goal, it wasn't able to get the ball into the circle until after Bishop Guertin had retaken the lead.

After Rohr and the Tomahawks had been able to fend off repeated chances by the Cardinals, Coyle found some space to get off a shot into traffic, and it hit the right spot to deflect into the goal.

"They flipped the tables a little bit," Duprat said. "Right now, that’s been our biggest problem, that five- or 10-minute letdown in the game. We control most of it and then we have this letdown and they get back in the game.

"We put the pressure on them and we were fortunate to get a great shot from Sarah and a deflection off the defender. We’re still in this game. We’re going to comeback and we did."

Both teams are off until Wednesday, as Bishop Guertin faces Nashua South at 4 p.m. at Stellos Stadium, while Merrimack travels to Salem for a 4 p.m. start.