Bishop Guertin girls lacrosse continues progress in win over Moses Brown (video)

NASHUA - Every game, the Bishop Guertin High School girls lacrosse team seems to add another piece to its puzzle.

Against Moses Brown on Saturday, the Cardinals were getting close to figuring out where the last few go.

Bishop Guertin got the lead early, stretched it out in the second half and then held off the Quakers late for a 10-8 win at Stellos Stadium.

Lauren Redfern led the Cardinals (4-3, No. 3 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) with four goals and an assist and Anna Campel had three goals and an assist as Bishop Guertin got the offense going right away.

"We showed a lot more discipline and patience, and kind of thoughtfulness on offense," Cardinals coach Leslie Why said. "We spent the last week working on offensive stuff and that really played out well. We watched a lot of their film and got very versed on what they’d be running. It was pretty consistent."

Tess Prunier added a goal and an assist and Kyra O'Connell also scored, as the Cardinals were more patient on offense and worked through their set plays. They led 9-4 with 13:33 to play when Moses Brown was able to make things interesting down the stretch.

"We know how well-coached they are and the system that they execute very well," Quakers coach Brian Williams said. "What we’re the most proud of is that we’re able to come in here and make a game out of it. We want to make the most of these opportunities to punch up and make us better, and I think we got better."

Campel and Redfern put Bishop Guertin up in the first four-plus minutes of the game, and after Vivian Stone put the Quakers on the board, the Cardinals put together a near-perfect clear to respond. After a shot by Moses Brown hit the outside of the net, goalie Maddy Eder-Linell scooped the ball up and got it out quick.

A couple of passes later and Prunier found O'Connell for a goal that made it 3-1 with 17:51 left in the first half.

But despite the execution on that goal, Bishop Guertin spent more time working from its set offense, not only to get better at running its own plays, but because of what Moses Brown liked to do defensively.

"Recognizing, understanding the flow of the game and what we’re facing," Why said. "To know when to push and when to pull back or pass it down and settle. Their film showed that if you fastbreak off a clear transition, not a draw, then those goals can come easily, but we have a mix of people now who are new to starting for us.

"It’s a different dynamic. They figured out that the fast break wasn’t coming off as well as we hoped it would. You don’t have to rush."

The steadier approach worked late in the half, as Bishop Guertin closed the final 11 minutes with a 3-1 run to take a 6-2 lead at the break. And after the Quakers scored the first two goals of the second half in the opening five minutes, were able to regroup and answer with a 3-0 run over an almost eight-minute stretch.

Things got interesting in the final six minutes, after Moses Brown picked up its fourth yellow card of the game and was forced to play down a player the rest of the way.

"When they started getting cards and they went down permanently, we put in a backer, which we haven’t practiced," Why said. "It should be common sense how that would work, but with this team, if we haven’t practiced something, there’s not enough experience collectively to just be able to say we can run it."

Campel scored with 2:23 remaining to make it 10-6, but some miscommunications on defense allowed Moses Brown to tack on two more goals in the final 90 seconds to cut the lead in half.

"Momentum shifts with the wind," Williams said. "Sometimes, it’s going your way, sometimes it’s not. If we can put the breaks on that and do a mental reset. If we know that we belong on this field with a team like that, and if we stay in and play the game we planned on playing, we would find some success. That was really the message there, to stay in it."