Comeback not enough as Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse falls to Needham (video)

NASHUA - There aren't many lacrosse teams that can climb out of a six-goal deficit.

On Thursday night, the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team was that team ... almost.

Down 6-0 a little more than six minutes into an out-of-state matchup with Needham (Mass.), the Cardinals came back to take a one-goal lead in the third quarter, and after the Rockets went back in front, had a chance to tie the game in the final minute.

But a pair of Bishop Guertin shots missed the mark and Needham goalie Christian Bliss came up with a big save to preserve a 12-11 win for the Rockets at Stellos Stadium. The win is just the second for Needham in a dozen games against Bishop Guertin.

"I’m very proud because this is an unbelievable program that we’ve historically had competitive games (with) and we’ve not been on the winning side," Needham coach Dave Wainwright said. "For us to get this, for all the years in the past we’ve lost by one, for us to win by one, it’s just great confidence for the boys going forward."

When the final buzzer sounded, the Rockest rushed to Bliss and celebrated on the field a little bit more like it was mid-June than early April. But according to Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron, that's what his young team - the Cardinals graduated 23 seniors last year - should be prepared for this season.

"You saw how Needham reacted when they won, it was like they had just won a state championship," the coach said. "When you’re BG, you’re going to get everyone’s best shot, and some of our younger guys have to realize that.

"I thought we showed a lot to comeback from 6-0 to take a lead, but we used so much energy to do that. There’s some things early in the year that we need to fix. We didn’t have the possessions we were used to having because of faceoffs and we didn’t clear the ball. We didn’t get any transition going. They’re a very good team."

The Cardinals got three goals each from Dawson Clark (assist) and Ben Abladian while Sean Cameron had two goals and three assists. Chris Heitmiller, Joey Lupo and Mason Carroll also had a goal each while, after the rough start, James Heitmiller made 17 saves to help Bishop Guertin (1-1, No. 2 NHHSS Coaches Poll) get back in the game.

"He adjusted," Chris Cameron said of James Heitmiller. "He’s great and he’ll have games like that for the rest of the year. All he needed was that first save."

Needham (4-0) got four goals from Jason Child while Cole Stedman added three goals and Brendan Walsh and Kurt Brinkhaus had two apiece. Goalies Seth Kleiman and Bliss combined to make eight saves.

The Rockets went up 6-0 on Brinkhaus's first goal with 5:48 left in the first quarter but Bishop Guertin got on the board just eight seconds later on Lupo's goal. That started a 4-0 run in a span of 2:14 by the Cardinals that made it a two-goal game before Needham closed the quarter with a goal to make it 7-4.

The Cardinals held a 3-1 advantage in the second quarter to go into halftime down 8-7, and then scored the first two goals of the third quarter, going up 9-8 on Carroll's goal with 7:42 to go in the frame.

"Sometimes when you win that many possessions in a row, your defense falls asleep," Wainwright said. "They don’t get in a rhythm. That’s what happened. Once we got it to 6-0, they won a couple of possessions, we weren’t really able to feel their offense out. We were able to get into rhythm and we were able to make some adjustments."

Needham came right back, getting a goal from Child just 1:15 later to tie the game and the Rockets pulled back in front on a goal by Walsh with 3:08 to go in the third. Child scored again with 4.5 seconds left in the quarter to give Needham an 11-9 lead going into the fourth.

The defenses tightened up in the final quarter until Abladian made it a one-goal game again with 5:26 to play, but the Rockets quickly got the lead back to two, as Stedman scored just 1:02 later.

The Rockets won the ensuing faceoff but a turnover led to a goal by Sean Cameron with 1:51 remaining to make it 12-11. Needham got the faceoff again, but took a quick shot that James Heitmiller stopped and the Cardinals got the ground ball.

After a timeout with 1:38 to play, Bishop Guertin tried to set something up for the tying goal, but Needham's defense was up to the task.

"We had them on the ropes," Chris Cameron said. "I know we’re going to get better as the season goes on. We hit seven pipes (Thursday). We just need to find the net. This is a game that’s going to make us better."