Lynch's goal in overtime gives Bedford girls lacrosse win over Bishop Guertin (video)

NASHUA - Christine Hodgdon knew that Thursday's game between her Bedford High School girls lacrosse team and Bishop Guertin was going to be one that went down to the wire.

But which side was going to come out on top, that took every moment of regulation, and then some, to decide.

Both teams had a four-goal lead at one point, and both teams went on a run to come back. Both sides scored in the final five minutes to send the game to overtime.

And in the extra session, it was Bedford's Sydney Lynch sending everyone home when she scored off a free position with 1:51 left in overtime to give the Bulldogs a 15-14 win over the Cardinals at Stellos Stadium.

"I thought it was going to be close all the way through," Hodgdon said. "We definitely knew we had to come up with crucial, crucial possessions, and we did that down at the end. We knew we had to be tenacious and keep the ball moving in our favor."

Lynch, Hannah McCarthy and Mackenzie MacEachern played a big hand in that for the Bulldogs (9-1), as all three were big on the draw and handled most of the scoring. Lynch finished with a game-high five goals, McCarthy had four and MacEachern added three, while Chamberlain Bell tied the game at 14 with 1:06 left in regulation.

Bishop Guertin got out to a 6-2 lead in the first half, but saw Bedford came back to go up 8-7 late in the first half. A goal by Emily Santom tied the game at 8 with a tenth of a second left in the half and Lindsay Hult gave the Cardinals a 9-8 lead 2:03 into the second half.

But that would be Bishop Guertin's last goal for more than 12 minutes, as Bedford went on a 4-0 run to take a 13-9 lead with 10:16 left in the game.

"They have a great offense, so I knew they’d score," Bishop Guertin coach Kerry Gobiel said. "It was nothing I didn’t think was going to happen and I think we were prepared for that. I think we matchup evenly.

"My team doesn’t stop fighting, and I think that’s the most important part. I know they’ll fight to the end. We had some things that didn’t go our way and that’s tough, but overall I think they did a great job."

The Cardinals (10-1) got four goals from Claire Donovan while Hult finished with three goals and two assists and Rylee Bouvier had two goals and two assists. Makenna Reekie came up with eight saves, including two late to slow down Bedford's run.

Those stops allowed the Cardinals to make a comeback of their own, as Donovan and Natalie Coutu scored back-to-back goals in 27 seconds to make it 13-11 with 7:25 left. Donovan and Abby Ahearn scored 37 seconds apart to tie the game with 4:58 to go and Bouvier put the Cardinals in front with 3:17 left.

"It’s a mental game and we know there will be changes in who is up and who is down," Lynch said. "It’s just mind over body and trying to get ahead of each other. We’re a team that has been up and been defeated, but also a team that has been down and come back. We know we can do it, it’s just a matter of putting it into action."

The Bulldogs won the ensuing draw and worked the clock before Bell's goal tied it. Bedford won the draw again but couldn't get a shot off before time expired in regulation.

Lynch made up for it in overtime.

"My teammates put me in that position," she said. "I could not have done that without them. They are my best supporters. This was a team win. Doing that was amazing."