Pinkerton boys lacrosse holds on to hand Bishop Guertin first in-state loss since 2019 (video)

NASHUA – Marty Auger had a perfect view of how the final seconds unfolded in Monday night’s game between his Pinkerton Academy boys lacrosse team and Bishop Guertin High School.

The Astros coach watched as the Cardinals won the final faceoff, as Hugh Roark scooped up the groundball with seven seconds left and Pinkerton leading by one.

He watched as Roark got the ball cleanly to teammate Tyler McLeod, who had no one between him and goalie Owen Perkins.

With three seconds left, Auger watched as McLeod rifled a shot from 13 yards out and Perkins came up with the save. Pinkerton’s Dylan Stingel pounced on the rebound just before time expired and the Astros held on to beat Bishop Guertin 9-8 at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.

Pinkerton’s win snaps the Cardinals’ 86-game win streak against in-state opponents, a run that dated back to June 8, 2019, when the Astros defeated Bishop Guertin in the Division I championship game.

“I had a really good vantage point of that and that was a wide-open shot,” Auger said. “It was an unbelievable save again. Add it to the list. I don’t know how many unbelievable saves (Perkins) had, but man, he bailed us out on that one, big time.”

Perkins had 10 of his 16 saves in the second half, as the Astros (10-2) came back from a 5-2 deficit at halftime and held the Cardinals (8-4) scoreless for more than 11 minutes to start the fourth quarter.

“All the pressure is on and I was just ready to go,” Perkins said. “I was really dialed in. I was seeing the ball. I was hoping we’d get that groundball (at the end) and chuck it up or do something with it.”

It was the kind of performance Auger has come to expect from Perkins, a junior who missed the second half of last season with an injury, and has shared time this year with senior Gavin Burwell.

“That’s not the first time he’s done that for us,” Auger said. “He’s that good. Our backup is just as good, which is too bad because we can’t play both of them. We’re very fortunate.”

Perkins helped the Astros overcome 25 turnovers and a slight edge for the Cardinals on faceoffs, as Roark won 12 of 21 against Pinkerton’s combo of Stingel and Tyler Pinardi.

“He’s really talented and he was clutch,” Bishop Guertin coach Brian Cameron said of Perkins. “He plays a unique style, he comes out a little bit, but regardless, he was seeing the ball. Credit to him.”

Jackson Farrell led Pinkerton with three goals, including one that put the Astros up 8-7 just 1:22 into the fourth quarter. Matt Gormandy also had two goals and Levi Weaver had a goal and an assist, with his score proving to be the game-winning goal with 4:39 to play.

Jack Redfern had three goals and an assist for Bishop Guertin and Sean McGarry had two goals and two assists. Hudson Schmitt dished out three assists and his goal made it a one-score game with 8.5 seconds remaining.

The Cardinals were without two starters on offense, as Cam Hayden and Owen King were both on the sideline due to injuries. Hayden, who will play at Penn State University next year, has played just one quarter in Bishop Guertin’s last seven games while King, who is going to play at Le Moyne College, has missed the last three games.

“I don’t necessarily know if we’re the better team if they’re full strength, and I’m being very honest, but I have a lot of respect for all those kids,” Auger said. “I felt like once we settled in, things would sort of go our way, because I felt like, especially because of their injuries, we were the better team.”

McLeod opened the scoring just 1:51 into the game and McGarry followed with his first goal moments later to make it 2-0 with 9:37 to go in the first quarter. Farrell got Pinkerton on the board with just under seven mintues remaining in the quarter, and from there, things started to get sloppy.

Both sides struggled to maintain possession before McGarry scored with 32.5 left in the quarter to make it 3-1, and Redfern gave the Cardinals a three-goal lead just 29 seconds into the second quarter.

But Bishop Guertin would go scoreless for more than 10 minutes after that, although Pinkerton was unable to make up much ground. Ryan Hewes scored with 2:21 left in the half to make it 4-2, but Redfern got another goal with 1:07 remaining to get the lead back to three.

Even with the lead at halftime, Cameron felt like it could have been more.

“I felt like we should have been up 6-1, and they believed,” the coach said. “We really just were sloppy. We did not play a clean game. This is everything to them. It’s a big game for us, too, and we ultimately want to win a state championship. This is only going to help us look internally and see what we can do better.”

After a save by Perkins to open the second half, Pinardi scored with 1:42 off the clock to make it 5-3. Gormandy and Farrell then scored just 23 seconds apart to tie the game with 9:01 left in the third.

Gormandy gave the Astros the lead for the first time with 6:28 remaining in the quarter, but Redfern answered less than a minute later to tie it. Hunter Duany took advantage of a miscommunication by Pinkerton in transition to put the Cardinals back in front.

After a hit along the sideline near the substitution box, the ball popped free and rolled on the field before Duany raced over to get the groundball. He then walked in along to beat Perkins and make it 7-6 with 4:38 left in the quarter.

Cade Johnston scored with 1:25 remaining until the fourth to tie the game at 7 before Farrell gave Pinkerton the lead again.

“I felt like it was only 5-2 (at halftime) and we played that poorly, I knew that we were going to change,” Auger said. “We talked about some tweaks and they worked. We knew if we could play our game and play to our strengths, we’d be fine, and we were.”