Pinkerton boys lacrosse holds off Bedford (video)

BEDFORD – The Pinkerton Academy boys lacrosse team hasn’t been hurting for offense in the first week of the regular season, but defense just might be where the Astros hang their hats this year.

Pinkerton jumped out to a 6-1 lead after one quarter Saturday afternoon against Bedford, and managed to hold off the Bulldogs’ charge in the second half for an 11-8 win in Division I action.

The Astros (3-0) got three goals from Chris Valentine and two more from Drew Strople, but needed a big performance from the defense, led by goalie Alex Sturgess, to take out Bedford (2-1). Sturgess made 11 of his 14 saves in the second half, and Pinkerton forced enough turnovers to keep the Bulldogs at a comfortable distance.

“We’ve got to give the credit to the defense and to Al in between the pipes,” Pinkerton senior James Tulley, who had a goal and an assist, said. “We knew there was a lot of strong midfielders for the other team, they’re very good shooters. (Sturgess) was ready for everything and the defense was there to help.”

Brett Datillo also had a goal and an assist while Ryan Auger, Cam Richard, Nick Coombs and Colin Philippon had a goal apiece.

Pinkerton scored the game’s first goal just 17 seconds in, and after Bedford tied it 24 seconds later, the Astros closed the first quarter on a 5-0 run.

“We played very well in spurts, especially in the first quarter,” Pinkerton coach Brian O’Reilly said. “We had control the entire game. They never really were with us because of that big lead at the beginning of the game.

“Our defense has been solid this year. We go very deep on defense. We are very happy with the poles that we have, with our goaltending, so we’re solid there.”

Dakota Clark had three goals and an assist to lead Bedford, while Colby Gendron had two goals and a helper and Brandon Howe (assist), John Cusack and Zach Tucci also had a goal each.

Pinkerton led 7-3 at halftime, and the Bulldogs came out firing in the third quarter, trying to get back in the game. But Pinkerton was able to answer, as Sturgess stepped up to make a handful of big saves, and goals by Valentine and Datillo gave the Astros a 9-3 lead.

It looked like Pinkerton would carry that lead into the fourth, but Tucci scored with five-tenths of a second left in the quarter, and the Bulldogs added two more goals in the first two minutes of the fourth to get to within 9-6.

Bedford won the faceoff after Gendron scored to make it a three-goal game with 10:24 to play, but the Bulldogs turned it over and Pinkerton was able to get out in transition. Valentine ended up with the ball in front of Bedford goalie Sean Tierney (six saves), and his shot found the back of the net as he was shoved in after it.

The goal counted and the Astros’ had a man-advantage, capitalizing on it when Ricard scored 19 seconds later to make it 11-6 with 7:28 remaining.

“I liked our intensity in the third quarter,” O’Reilly said. “I do think that we could do a better job of playing the game at the end. I didn’t think we played well situationally in the last six minutes of the game. We won, I’m not going to complain.”