Comeback ends up short in Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse's loss to Archbishop Stepinac (video)

NASHUA - When the calendar flips from April to May, Chris Cameron usually has a pretty good idea of what type of squad the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team will be.

But after Saturday's roller coaster showing against Archbishop Stepinac, a game in which the Cardinals trailed by as many as nine goals before falling 13-10, that identity remains to be seen.

"I haven’t figured this team out yet," Cameron said after the game. "I don’t have an answer. I thought against Bedford (last Tuesday), after losing to Staples, we’d have a response, and we didn’t."

Bishop Guertin (5-2, No. 1 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) suffered its first loss the week before in an 11-10 overtime defeat at the hands of Staples (Conn.) in a game played at Providence College. But the Cardinals had a 6-0 lead in the first half of that game and were up 10-5 in the fourth quarter before the Wreckers tied the game in the final minute and won in OT.

They followed that up with a 10-4 win over Bedford in which the Cardinals scored six goals in the final three quarters, including none in the fourth, but held the Bulldogs to a goal until late.

Add in the team's 14-1 win over the Blue Hawks last Thursday, a game in which Exeter had played the night before and was missing its top two offensive players, and it's been a tough week to get a read on the Cardinals. They return to action Monday night against Nashua South before going to play at Exeter on Tuesday.

"I hope they respond because that’s a very tricky game (Tuesday at Exeter)," Cameron said. "It was a tough spot for (Exeter) but they’re going to play better. We’re playing three games in four days and four games in six days. That’s where it’s going to be slanted toward them."

Against the Crusaders, from White Plains, N.Y., Bishop Guertin held its own early, as the game was scoreless for most of the first quarter. Archbishop Stepinac got going late and took a 4-0 lead into the second quarter that ballooned to a 10-3 advantage by halftime.

"We came out flying," Crusaders coach James Goldmann said. "I’ll be honest, when you stay in a hotel the night before, you don’t really know what you’re going to get. It was probably the best first half of lacrosse that we’ve played all year."

The teams traded goals to open the third quarter, but the Crusaders tacked on two more scores 43 seconds apart midway through the frame to take a 13-4 lead. Archbishop Stepinac looked like it might get more late in the third and early in the fourth, as the Crusaders controlled possession and fired 10 shots at Bishop Guertin in just over six minutes.

The Cardinals finally got the ball back on a save by Will Murphy, who found Alex Dumont on the clear and Dumont went the length of the field and scored with 8:25 remaining. That started a 3-0 run over the next two minutes for Bishop Guertin that cut the lead to 13-7 with 6:36 remaining.

"Our defense has been rock solid this year, and then in the second quarter, we just unraveled," Cameron said. "A lot of them were point-blank shots where we just fell apart defensively. We regrouped and we made a little adjustment, but then we relaxed clearing the ball. We were a mess clearing it. Then they started believing in themselves."

But Bishop Guertin wasn't able to capitalize on the momentum and time continued to tick away. Tim Kiely got the offense going again with just under four minutes to play, burying a rebound just beyond the crease to make it 13-8.

Connor Guibord added a goal with 1:13 left and Kiely got another in the final minute, but the Cardinals ran out of time to get any closer.

"That should never happen, but that’s a testament to them," Goldmann said. "A lot of teams would quit right there and they didn’t. Luckily, we did enough early on to hang on, but I think if we had played another quarter of lacrosse, I don’t think that one goes to us."

Kiely and Calen Yeung each finished with two goals and an assist and Brady Dumont also scored twice for Bishop Guertin. Guibord, Connor Bouvier, Jacob Caron and Alex Dumont each added a goal.

"They’re well-coached, they have good athletes and they have good shooters," Cameron said. "I thought defensively, that’s where we could have exposed them and we didn’t. We didn’t give ourselves enough opportunities because of the turnovers. We faced off well, the goalies were good. We’ll learn from it and get better."