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# Man Down: Boys lacrosse teams learn a lot South of the border
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/man-boys-lacrosse-teams-learn-lot-south-border/
- Published: 2016-04-26T17:00:59.000Z
- Updated: 2016-04-26T17:00:59.000Z
- Description: Dave Wainwright has a name for games like the one his Needham (Mass.) High School boys lacrosse team played against Bishop Guertin last Tuesday. The Rockets coach calls them quiz games, because sometimes, you just don't know what you're going to get.
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Spring Sports, Bedford, Bishop Guertin, boys lacrosse, Division I, Man Down, Pinkerton, slider, Souhegan, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

Dave Wainwright has a name for games like the one his Needham (Mass.) High School boys lacrosse team played against Bishop Guertin last Tuesday.

The Rockets coach calls them quiz games, because sometimes, you just don't know what you're going to get.

"We test ourselves to see if we're ready," Wainwright said. "When we play a school of (Bishop Guertin's) caliber, it's like a self-assessment of where we're at. We get an idea of where we're at."

It's a two-way street, as the Cardinals - and the other New Hampshire teams that took on out-of-state opponents last week - also got a better idea of just how good they might be. In its seven games against in-state opponents, Bishop Guertin (8-0) won by an average of 13.3 goals; against Needham, the Cardinals had to hang on for a 9-8 win.

"You learn a lot and this game will make us better down the road," Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. "Every team has its own personality and this one is a team that could be the toughest team. It's not our deepest or most talented, but these guys grind it out. This is what you learn from a game like this."

Pinkerton (7-0) went through a test of its own last Wednesday, finding out if it could play a physical-style game in a 20-12 win over Billerica (Mass.). In that game, senior James Tulley had seven goals and three assists while giving the Astros the spark they needed when the Indians started to push them around.

"He likes physicality and it gets him charged up," Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly said. "It just plays into his wheelhouse. We matched their aggressiveness."

Like Bishop Guertin, Pinkerton has won its six in-state games by an average of 12.5 goals, and although the Astros won by eight over Billerica, the game had a different feel to it.

"If you'd told me before that game that we'd get to 20 goals and I wouldn't be pulling guys out, I'd be like 'come on,' " O'Reilly said. "This was competitive right to the end. It keeps you sharp and you know you can handle almost anything.

"That's what I want for our players, and I'm sure that's why Chris (Cameron) does what he does. It gets old when half your games are over at halftime. The kids develop bad habits, they take dumb shots from further away than they should, and then when you get to the tournament and you've been doing that, it can catch up to you."

Bishop Guertin and Pinkerton aren't the only Division I teams taking on other schools from around New England.

Souhegan (5-2) took on Boston College High last Monday, and while the game got away from the Sabers in the second half, it remained competitive in the first.

"We played pretty hard, we're just not as deep," Souhegan coach Brad Bishop said. "He's running six, seven guys out of the midfield and we’re running three. It gets tough to run with them at the end of the game and we just died a little bit.

"It's a good test for us. In the long run, we're learn a lot from the film. This will benefit us."

The Sabers will take on another team from Massachusetts on Saturday when they head to Acton-Boxborough, while Bishop Guertin will host Xaverian Brothers, a team ranked in the top 10 in the state by both LaxPower and ESPNBoston.

The Cardinals will also face Cohasset (May 14) and Duxbury (May 25) this season, while Pinkerton hosts Longmeadow (May 7).

Bedford has four out-of-state games on its schedule this season, having already beaten Cape Elizabeth (Maine). The Bulldogs also play three Massachusetts teams - Lexington (Saturday), BC High (May 16) and Medfield (May 26), the top-ranked team in the state, according to LaxPower.

"We love it," BC High coach Steve Lydon said. "We want to play the best competition. These guys want to challenge themselves and they want to know how good they really are. It's hard to simulate that when you don't compete against it throughout the year."