Offense erupts in third quarter as Pinkerton boys lacrosse knocks off Bedford

DERRY - There weren't any fancy plays or new game plans drawn up for the Pinkerton Academy boys lacrosse team during halftime of Tuesday's game against Bedford.

After the Astros had looked stagnant on offense and fell behind at the break, there was just a question from coach Brian O'Reilly - what kind of team is Pinkerton going to be?

It took some time, but Pinkerton's offense got going in the third quarter, scoring five goals in the final five minutes to break open a tie game, and the Astros held on for a 12-5 win over Bedford in Division I action.

Chad Teresky led the way for Pinkerton (5-0), scoring three of his five goals in the third quarter, while Mason Drouin and Ryan Auger each scored three goals and Connor McCormack also had a goal as the Astros outscored Bedford 9-1 in the second half.

"We didn’t change the defense, we didn’t put in any new plays, we put in something different on faceoffs," O'Reilly said. "We just started to play. We played with a purpose.

"As I told them at halftime, I am at a loss for why we played offense standing around in the first half. We didn’t penetrate their defense. I believe their goaltender had one save in the first half and we had three goals, so in 24 minutes, we generated four shots on the cage. Most everyone was standing around watching one guy do something. Defensively, there was too much stick checking going on. You have to play the game the way it’s being called. We didn’t adjust to that, which took the possession away on offense."

Bedford (4-2) took advantage, getting goals two goals from Ryan Toscano in the first quarter while Stew Kirkpatrick, Kyle Fink and Dawson Clark also had a goal apiece.

"First half we did a fantastic job all over the field," Bedford coach Matt Guerard said. "Having that halftime lead was huge for us, especially in a game of this caliber. I think we sat back on our heels a little bit at the start of the second half. We weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be and they took advantage of that, got some quick goals on his and we had to battle back."

The Bulldogs took a 3-2 lead into the second quarter and made it 4-2 on Kirkpatrick's goal with 7:34 left in the first half. The teams combined for five penalties in the quarter and turned the ball over 11 times overall, leading to a back-and-forth quarter.

Pinkerton got within one goal with 1:51 left to go before halftime, when McCormack found the back of the net right after a man-up situation had ended for the Astros. It stayed a one-goal game into the third until Teresky tied the game with his second goal of the day with 8:32 left in the quarter.

From there, Pinkerton dominated possession, thanks in part to two penalties and three turnovers by Bedford, and the Astros won six of seven faceoffs in the quarter.

Drouin gave Pinkerton its first lead of the day with 4:49 left in the quarter, and 1:08 later, he added another goal to make it 6-4. After winning the face off, the ball found Auger's stick and the junior scored just 15 seconds after Drouin to make it 7-4.

Teresky added two more goals in the final 1:33 of the third to give Pinkerton a 9-4 edge going into the fourth.

"I think they were shooting more and getting the ball on cage," Guerard said. "We were trying to come up with some big defensive stops and it didn’t quite work for us in our end. For us, in that second half, we’ve got to continue to keep our foot on the gas like we were going in the first half. We deflated."

Clark got one of the goals back for Bedford with 9:24 left in the game to make it 9-5, and the Bulldogs had a prolonged possession after that, getting five shots off as they tried to be patient. But only one found the cage, getting stopped by goalie Alex Sturgess.

"It was good to see them respond that way," O'Reilly said. "If you’re going to do that, you want to see it in the first half and have the response in the second half, rather than the other way around. Credit to Bedford, we knew they were a good team."