Cardinals still defending champs to others

The Bedford High School girls lacrosse team was near its bench after Monday's 14-13 win over Bishop Guertin, reveling in the victory, one of the players said what they were all thinking.

"We just beat the defending state champs," the player said.

The Bulldogs had - Bishop Guertin won last year's Division II title - but the reality is the Cardinals are a much different team than the one that won it all in 2010.

"We lost 10 kids," Bishop Guertin coach Ron Cote said. "I’ve got 12 sophomores and two freshmen out of 24 (players). We’re sort of at that stage where we have sort of start rebuilding where we were last year."

The drop hasn't been that great for the Cardinals. They've won three of four division games and averaged better than 14 goals a game behind strong players like Nicole Pettiglio, Callie Santos, Allie Solms and Morgan Karanasios, all of whom contributed a year ago.

But there have still been some growing pains. Bishop Guertin was down by five at halftime against Winncunnet but came back to win 14-12, and on Monday, the Cardinals struggled into the second half.

"Every team we beat last year wants nothing more than to beat us and because of the wins we’ve had and the losses we’ve had, teams are seeing we’re not invincible," Cote said. "We’re definitely beatable. It’s an adjustment. It’s different from last year and the year before. It’s a different spot than I’ve been in in a while. I’d be lying if I said I liked it. We’ll get there. We’re hanging in there and we’re competitive."

The Cardinals will have had a week off when they return to the field, hosting Lebanon (2-3) on May 2.