Bishop Guertin starts fast, hangs on late to beat Bedford in D1 girls lacrosse final (video)

EXETER - From the moment everyone got on the bus, through warmups and into the locker room, the Bishop Guertin High School girls lacrosse team had the energy to start strong.

But would the Cardinals have enough to keep it going throughout Tuesday night's Division I championship game against Bedford?

The answer was yes.

Top-seeded Bishop Guertin stormed out to a seven-goal lead in the game's first 15 minutes and withstood a furious second-half effort by No. 2 Bedford to hang on for a 13-7 win at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter. It's the Cardinals' fourth consecutive D1 title and the program's sixth championship overall.

The Cardinals (18-1, No. 1 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) had a 4-0 lead just 4:40 into the game, went up 8-1 with 10:52 remaining in the first half and still led by seven going into the second half. The Bulldogs (16-3, No. 2) were able to chip away at the lead, getting it down to four goals with just under 16 minutes to play, but Bishop Guertin was able to do enough to hold on for the win.

"From the start of today, our energy was high, we were playing for each other," Bishop Guertin senior Rylee Bouvier said. "We were coming for this game from the second we stepped on the bus, to the locker room, to warmups, everyone’s energy was there.

"I kind of saw it come because we were so ready. The love we have for each other on this team was just propelling us to do what we had to do. Everyone did their job."

Bouvier and Lauren Redfern each had four goals to lead the Cardinals while Steph Reap had two goals and an assist and Arianna Kouchalakas had a goal and two assists. Nat Coutu also had a goal and an assist and Katie Campel scored while Makenna Reekie made 12 saves, including three down the stretch that kept Bishop Guertin in front.

"She was lights out," Bishop Guertin coach Leslie Why said of Reekie. "We talked a lot about playing our game. Our game is fast break, slow break, settle and run a play. We worked a lot on the slow break.

"We’d been going fast break to settle too much during the regular season. Let’s keep going and there’s more opportunities as everybody filters in, so we’re missing opportunities. We hammered that the last few days and they really got the pass down, slow-break opportunities."

Bishop Guertin won the first three draw controls of the game to get out fast and the Cardinals were able to keep it going despite Bedford winning 14 of 26 draws on the night.

The Bulldogs got three goals and an assist from Reagan O'Brien and Julian Bell had two goals and an assist while Sydney Grogan and Audrey Purnell had a goal apiece. Teagan Steele added an assist and Abby Weidner made seven saves.

"We were well-prepared and we were definitely eager to compete with BG," Bedford coach Christine Hodgdon said. "Getting in a hole early, coming back from it, against a talented and seasoned team, is a really hard accomplishment.

"I think defensively, we were a little on our heels. I don’t think we played aggressively enough. Definitely, in the second half, we played a better defensive set. (The start) kind of deflates your confidence."

Down 3-0, Bedford started winning draws, but Reekie came up with a couple of saves and the Cardinals were able to turn them into goals at the other end. Grogan got the Bulldogs on the board, making it 4-1 with 18:16 left in the half, but the Cardinals answered with another 4-0 run in 3:22.

The final goal of that run came with Bell off the field after picking up a yellow card, but Bedford got the ensuing draw and was able to kill off the remainder of the penalty. Back at full strength, O'Brien scored twice in 21 seconds to make it 8-3, but Bishop Guertin had an answer and went into the half up 11-4.

Despite having that lead, Why didn't feel completely comfortable at halftime.

"You love the lead, but it’s this thing lurking over your shoulder," she said of a potential Bedford run. "Let’s get it over with because you know it’s coming. They never lay down, those guys."

Bell scored on a free position with 21:41 left on the clock, and after the teams went back and forth for a few minutes, O'Brien added another with 16:13 left to make it 11-6.

The Cardinals took a timeout, but Bedford controlled the draw out of the break, and Purnell scored on a shot the Reekie got a piece of but had enough momentum to roll into the goal just 24 seconds later, making it 11-7.

But it would be the last goal Bedford would get.

The Bulldogs got the draw again and Bell had another free position, but this time, her shot went wide. Bedford got the ball back, but Reekie came up with a save and the Cardinals were able to clear it.

"When that (a run) happens, I’m usually focused on what everyone else is doing instead of what I’m doing," Reekie said. "I have to remind myself that I can’t change what they’re doing, so I’ve got to take a deep breath and calm down and watch the ball instead of watching everything else, because that’s not helping me."

Bedford appeared to get a break when a goal by Campel was waved off for leaving early on a free position, but a turnover by the Bulldogs led to a goal by Redfern - the Cardinals' first in almost 14 minutes - to make it 12-7 with 11:52 remaining.

"That was a big weight off our shoulders," Bouvier said. "We hadn’t gotten one all half and to go without scoring for that long rattled us. Probably the longest we’ve gone all season without a goal. It solidified in our minds that we were still here."

Bishop Guertin won the next draw, but turned it over, and Bedford was able to get out in transition, but Reekie was able to make the save on a shot by Steele. The Cardinals cleared it, and Bouvier got free position at the other end, but her shot bounced wide, with the Bulldogs getting the groundball.

But again, Reekie came up with a save on Steele in transition.

"I can tell when someone really wants a goal because they’ll be eyeing the net and won’t move the ball as much," Reekie said. "You can tell they really want it, and it feels so good when I can stop that."

The Cardinals took another timeout to regroup with 4:48 remaining and Bouvier scored with 2:22 left to put the game away.

"Once you get to about the 15- to 12-minute mark, if you’re down four or five goals, if they use the clock well, which they did, we didn’t capitalize on the other end," Hodgdon said. "That’s the game. You’ve got to keep pushing the envelope."

For the Cardinals, the fourth straight title ties them with Portsmouth, for the moment, for the most consecutive championships by a girls program in state history. The Clippers will play in the Division II title game Wednesday night against Hollis Brookline.

"We knew Bedford is an awesome team with a lot of skill and talent and grit," Bouvier said. "They were going to want it really bad, so we knew it was going to come down to not necessarily talent, but who wanted it more."