Merrimack girls lacrosse holds off Bishop Guertin

MERRIMACK – If the Merrimack and Bishop Guertin high school girls lacrosse teams end up meeting in the Division II playoffs, it would be quite a game.

Wednesday’s regular-season matchup wasn’t too bad either.

Bishop Guertin got out to the early lead, the Tomahawks came storming back and then held off the Cardinals in the second half to win 17-13. The win was the second big one to open the season for Merrimack, which defeated Bow in its opener on Monday.

“They’re very good competition for us,” Merrimack coach Beth Rodgers said. “I think it’s intimidating, but when you get those two wins, it helps them get even more excited.”

Lauren Perry had six goals and four assists for the ’Hawks (2-0) while Amanda Dionne also had six goals and a helper. Emily Pollard and Julia Perry each had a goal and an assist while Maegan Howe, Courtney Duffy and Katie Correia had a goal apiece.

Bishop Guertin (1-1) got five goals from Callie Santos and four goals and an assist from Jess Lambert. Emma Annand had a goal and four assists while Kristin Cameron, Nicole Pettiglio and Caley Prunier added a goal each.

While it was a tough draw for both teams early in the season, Bishop Guertin coach Ron Cote thought the ’Hawks might have needed to get the win a little more than the Cardinals.

“I know (Merrimack) wanted to beat us in the worst way because it’s been a while,” he said. “Merrimack needed to win and they did.”

The Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead, thanks in part to a couple of breaks. Merrimack had three shots hit off the post, and Bishop Guertin was able to gain possession and score following two of them.

When Prunier scored to make it 3-0, Rodgers called a timeout.

“I called the timeout and said breath, calm down,” she said. “Go back out and execute and they did.

“We have a hard time with the first five minutes and that’s something we need to eliminate because we get down. It’s happened in both games.”

The ’Hawks were able to respond, scoring seven straight goals – four by Lauren Perry – to take a 7-3 lead. But the Cardinals came back, cutting the lead to one on two goals by Santos sandwiched around a goal by Pettiglio.

Merrimack answered with two more goals, and after a couple of big stops by goalie Cat Green, it looked like the ’Hawks were going to go to halftime up three. But Merrimack turned the ball over as it was trying to run out the half, and Santos ended up with the ball alone in front of Green. Her fourth goal of the first half made it a 9-7 game at the break.

The Cardinals opened the second half with a goal to cut the lead to one, but Merrimack stormed right back, scoring three goals in under four minutes to go up 12-8. With 10 minutes left in the game, the ’Hawks had stretch the lead to 15-10, their largest of the game, but Bishop Guertin wasn’t done.

Goals by Lambert and Santos cut the lead to three with 5:06 left and Cote took a timeout to stress the importance of the upcoming draw.

“We were lucky that he called the timeout,” Rodgers said. “I said to the girls that they’re calling this so that they can get possession. They need to make a huge move and it’s your job to get the ball.”

Merrimack did get the ball and the ’Hawks took more than two minutes off the clock before Lauren Perry scored. Merrimack again controlled the draw and Duffy scored with 33 seconds left to put the game away.

“It’s a killer,” Cote said. “Our girls started coming together (in the second half) and playing a little more aggressively and playing a little cleaner. We’re not going down like some other teams are going down.”

Bishop Guertin is back on the field on Saturday when it plays a non-division game at Groton-Dunstable. Merrimack returns to action on Monday at St. Thomas.