Bishop Guertin runs past Souhegan to advance to D1 girls lacrosse final (video)

EXETER - Great teams will find ways take advantage of what opponents do, whether it's on or off the field.

For the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team, in Saturday's Division I semifinal, it was something that during a timeout.

With the Cardinals up by three goals with just over six minutes left in the first half, Souhegan took a timeout, and top-seeded Bishop Guertin used that break to its advantage, going on 4-0 run over the final five minutes of the half on the way to a 17-8 win over the No. 4 Sabers at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

Bishop Guertin moves on to its fourth consecutive D1 championship game, where it will face No. 2 Bedford at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Exeter.

"I thought Souhegan played really well," Bishop Guertin coach Leslie Why said. "They came out really strong and were a lot more disruptive this time around, even though the score looked similar to our first match. They made adjustments on their defense that really kind of sent us a little sideways. On their offense, they spread out in a way that spread us apart and our team defense was really kind of pulled out way and effective (for them)."

After the Cardinals (16-1, No. 1 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) took a 3-0 lead in the game's first three minutes, Souhegan answered back to tie the game, and the teams went back and forth for most of the first half. But after Bishop Guertin was able to restore that three-goal lead with 6:15 left in the half, the Sabers (13-5, No. 5) called a timeout.

Souhegan won the ensuing draw, but missed on a free-position opportunity, and the Cardinals went the other way, as Steph Reap found Rylee Bouvier for a goal to make it 9-5.

Bishop Guertin won every draw for the rest of the half and scored three goals in 46 seconds to stretch the lead to 12-5, and that's where it stood at halftime.

"It reenergizes you, when you put some points between you and the competition," Why said. "I think when we just stayed calm and capitalized on opportunities that are given to us instead of just run plays or just do one thing, we’d take a little breath, a step back and are more observant.

"When they called that timeout, it’s really helpful for me, because I don’t have to give away the power of calling the timeout, but I get the benefit. That was good because we saw some opportunities that we capitalized on repeatedly once they called that. It was good timing for us."

Bouvier finished with five goals while Reap had three goals and four assists. Tess Prunier scored four times and Lauren Redfern had three goals and an assist while Nat Coute had two goals and two assists for the Cardinals.

Souhegan got three goals and an assist from Emma Kenndey and Mackenzie Cretsinger had two goals and an assist. Elle Stevenson, Madeline Lim and Natalie Haimarck also had a goal apiece and goalie Shannon Hargreaves made 17 saves.

"I’m super proud of how we fought," Souhegan coach McKinley Sbordone said. "We had lots of highs and lows and we just kept chipping away. Even when it was unrealistic, we didn’t give up. I’m just proud of how the girls left it on the field."

After the Cardinals scored three quick goals to open the game, the Sabers started making adjustments to keep it from getting away from them. They worked, as Souhegan needed just two minutes to tie the game up at 3.

"We made some adjustments on the draw," Sbordone said. "That is the name of the game. We started to chip away, we got it back to even. We were possessing the ball. With a team like that, where they can score so quickly, we needed to limit their chances. We just kept falling behind on that. Every adjustment we made, the girls continued to step up and do that."

Reap put Bishop Guertin back in front, 4-3, but Stevenson answered for Souhegan less than two minutes later. But then the Cardinals started to dominate on the draw, leading to back-to-back goals by Bouvier and Redfern, both assisted by Coutu, just 1:06 apart.

The Cardinals won 15 of 27 draws, with Katie Campel going 13 of 23 in the circle.

"We had girls rise (Saturday) who showed that they could do," Why said. "We took advantage of where they put their strongest players and then we worked on that. Our distribution of our shooters, I’m pretty sure it looks like all seven were on the board."