Matchups set for Championship Sunday in boys lacrosse (video)

The Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team kept the streak alive Wednesday night at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter. The second-seeded Cardinals beat sixth-seeded Pinkerton Academy 13-6 in the early Division I semifinal matchup to once again reach the finals.

Since 2005, Bishop Guertin has appeared in every Division I championship game, winning 10 titles over that 18-year span. That’s 10 wins out of 15 finals appearances (2020 there was no tournament), the most recent victory coming a year ago over Exeter, the team the Cardinals will face in this year’s final at 7:30 p.m. June 12.

“It never gets old,” Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said of reaching the finals. “That’s the main goal every season, to win another state title, but the first thing you’ve got to do if you want to win it all is get there.”

Bishop Guertin got there yet again by winning the possession game and spreading the wealth offensively. Four Cardinals scored multiple goals, led by Tim Kiely (three goals, one assist), Connor Bouvier (two goals, three assists), Brady Dumont (two goals) and Jacob Caron (two goals). Chipping in with one goal each were Connor Guibord (one assist), Quinn Cepiel (one assist), Kevin Broderick (one assist) and Xander Dunsmoor.

The Astros weren’t out of it until the fourth quarter, putting a scare into the Cardinals in the third quarter. Trailing by five, Pinkerton went on a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to one. BG would regain its composure and possession of the ball to thwart the Pinkerton comeback and pull away for the win.

Joey Gallo led the way offensively for the Astros with two goals and one assist, while Matt Feole, Michael Uber, Riley Spellman (two assists) and Ryan Lynch added one goal each in the loss.

“We went up 7-2 with the first goal of that third quarter,” Cameron said. “That was the only stretch of the game that we didn’t play well. They put together a 4-0 run capitalizing on a few manup situations and had us on our heels. This was a much tighter game than the 13-6 score would indicate, but I feel that aside from the eight-minute stretch in the third quarter, we were in control of this game.”

A big part of that control rested on the shoulders of J.J. Murphy, who won 12 of 20 faceoffs in a battle between two of the state’s best in draws. Pinkerton’s Cole Frank win eight draws.

Also coming up big for the Cardinals was goalie Zach Connerty, who recorded 14 saves in the win.

“The kids battled and kept their cool,” Cameron said. “It would have been easy to fold after they went on their run and closed the gap. We won the possession battle and I think it wore them down. It’s hard to score when you’re playing zone - and they do play a really good zone - but we knew coming off of their 4-0 run that if we gained possession and came out scoring right away in the fourth quarter we could lock this up.”

The Cardinals did just that, going on a 6-0 run of their own to close out the game.

Now Bishop Guertin has a final rematch with top-seeded Exeter, who beat fourth-seeded Londonderry 15-6 in Wednesday’s late game.

“It should be a good one,” Cameron said. “The lineup for championship Sunday looks good from top to bottom. It’s going to be a day of great lacrosse.”

No. 1 Exeter 15, No. 4 Londonderry 6

Exeter was determined to earn that Division I final rematch with Bishop Guertin. The Blue Hawks offense stepped on the accelerator early and had it pressed firmly to the floorboard the entire semifinal matchup, for a 15-6 win over Londonderry.

Aiden Drunsic led Exeter with four goals and three assists, while Gavin Lechner (one assist), Adam Neil (two assists) and Matt Denman (two assists) all recorded hat tricks. Owen Williams (two assists) and Gabe Albert chipped in with one goal each, while goalie Ethan Bernich had eight saves in the victory.

Exeter’s only loss of this season came in early May to Bishop Guertin, 17-10. The Cardinals also had the Blue Hawks number in last year’s final, winning 9-7.

Josh DeFranzo was a bright spot for Londonderry in the loss.

Division III

No. 4 Laconia 7, No. 1 Campbell 6

Fourth-seeded Laconia did what nobody - aside from maybe it’s own roster of players - believed was possible, upsetting undefeated and top-seeded Campbell 7-6 in Wednesday night’s Division III semifinals at Bank of New Hampshire Stadium in Laconia.

The Sachems were led offensively by the two-goal effort of senior Tim Ausevich, who scored Laconia’s first and last goals to secure the one-goal win.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Laconia coach Steve McDonough, whose Sachems will now face No. 2 Hopkinton in Sunday’s Division III final at 2:30 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium. “The guys are pretty excited right now. I think we’re going to enjoy this for a day and then really get focused on that title game. But there’s no way to deny how big a win this was for us and how important it was to come out on top for our seniors.

“We have a senior-heavy group, and they didn’t want this to be their last game. It showed in how they all performed and the result that came from their hard work.”

Sophomore Carson Tucker added a goal for Laconia that tied the game at 2-2 with 2:03 to play in the first half. Then the seniors took over.

Evan Rollins, scored his goal with 6:09 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 5-5. Evan Carignan’s solo goal, with 3:36 remaining in the game, put the Sachems ahead 6-5 setting the stage for Ausevich’s eventual game-winner. Lucas Beane and Cole Roy also added one goal each in the win.

Campbell’s offense was led by the two-goal nights of Jack Noury (two assists) and Nick Carignan. Colby Carey and Andrew Willnus (one assist) chipped in with one goal each, while Brendan Boschi and John Newell each had an assist. Ryan Guerrette did all he could between the Cougars’ pipes, recording 17 saves in defeat.

It was another Laconia senior that shined between the pipes for the victory, as Cam Harriman made some key saves with Cougars invading his crease throughout the night.

“Cam was phenomenal (Wednesday),” McDonough said. “Especially in the first half. He made some clutch saves that kept us in this early and allowed us to win it late.”

No. 2 Hopkinton 12, No. 3 Plymouth 9

The Hopkinton boys lacrosse program had one mission to start the season - get back to the final.

Wednesday night, the Hawks stuck out their talons and punched their tickets to Sunday’s Division III final at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter, by outlasting the Bobcats in the semifinals.

Hopkinton won three straight D3 titles from 2017-2019. COVID-19 snapped the winning streak with no tournament in 2020, and then the Hawks were bystanders for Trinity’s victory over Plymouth in last season’s final.

“Oh we’re pumped. We’re reveling in our victory,” Hopkinton coach Deacon Blue said. “We’re going to enjoy this and regroup (Thursday) to get ready for Sunday.”

On Wednesday, it was a group of seniors, who as freshman got a glimpse of what a title run feels like, that led the Hopkinton charge.

Ethan Molnar recorded a hat trick, while Ryan Brown (two assists) and Quinn Whitehead (one assist) scored two goals each. Other seniors coming up big were Aiden Burns (one goal, one assist), Josh Duval (one goal), goalie Eli Standefer (10 saves) and shutdown defender John Sullivan. Sophomore Patrick Buss chipped in with one goal and a helper, while junior Steven Reddy scored twice and assisted on another.

“This was a game of spurts,” Blue said. “We were able to handle pressure defensively and then flip it into us controlling and winning the possession game. We’ll need to do the same thing on Sunday.”

Plymouth was in this game until the end, led offensively by Brendan Marcoux (four goals), Dylan Welch (two goals), Mamush Tighe (one goal, one assist), Nick Therrien (one goal, one assist), Matt Cleary (one assist) and Luke Legacy (one goal, one assist), while goalie Jake Marcoux turned away 13 shots and recorded an assist in defeat.

Now Hopkinton preps for a 2:30 p.m. showdown with Laconia on Sunday in Exeter.

“We feel good going into it,” Blue said. “Laconia is no pushover, we know that. It should be a good matchup.”