Senior duo trying to show Bishop Guertin field hockey the way

NASHUA – Addison Daddona had never attempted a penalty stroke in a high school field hockey game before this season.

On Monday, the Bishop Guertin High School senior got to attempt – and make – two of them in the Cardinals’ 4-2 comeback win over Merrimack.

“I’ve never had two strokes in a game, I’ve never seen it,” she said. “This season was the first time even taking a stroke in a game. Moments like that, it shoots the energy through the roof.”

It did against the Tomahawks. Down 2-0 in the first half, Daddona got Bishop Guertin (6-3) on the board before halftime, and then tied the game on the first stroke with 11.8 seconds left in the third quarter.

Carly Green would net the game-winner on a penalty corner later in the fourth and Daddona’s second stroke put the game away.

It was the second come-from-behind win in a row for the Cardinals, after they needed to rally from a 2-1 deficit for a 4-2 win against Nashua South their previous time out.

“We’re a second-half team,” Daddona said. “We’re very young, so it takes a little bit to adjust and figure it out. We talk it through, we work out positioning. We really get an energy boost in the second half and get fired up.”

A year after having eight seniors, most of whom played key roles for Bishop Guertin, Daddona, Green and goalie Ayla Saeturn are the lone seniors this season. And with so many seniors eating up minutes last year, only a handful of other returners had a lot of varsity experience.

“We have a lot to work on, and we lack a little bit of experience, but what we lack in experience, we have in our work ethic,” Green said. “All of these young girls who are starting, they’re always giving it. When we get into the second half of the game, and the other team is kind of gassed, these girls who are playing the outsides, they’re still giving it up the field and working it as hard as they can.”

Juniors Lola Dumont, Sophia Harrington and Danielle Kapala have stepped up on the defensive end to support Saeturn, but when it comes to crunch time, it’s been Daddona and Green who have done a lot of the work on the offensive end.

“Addie and Carly are the two seasoned (vets) and Ayla in net,” Bishop Guertin coach Dakota Bilodeau said. “They’re skill takes them so far and we need them on the field. Their instruction, too, on the field and off the field is helping the little kids rise above and give them opportunities.”

The Cardinals saw firsthand on Wednesday what happens when those opportunities aren’t there in a 3-1 loss to Windham (3-6). The Jaguars were able to keep the ball away from Daddona and Green, as Bishop Guertin had just two corners, to 12 for the Jaguars.

Goals by Rowan Bomba and Jaidyn Seitzer in the fourth quarter broke open a 1-1 game for Windham.

“We have to talk to the younger girls and instruct them on the field,” Daddona said. “That’s been a big thing for us together as captains, providing instruction and teaching the younger girls. They’re still learning. A lot of them have never played at this competitive a level. They respond well to instruction, so we can fix our mistakes from the first half, and we learn from them a lot.”

Bishop Guertin returns to action at 6 p.m. Monday when it hosts Keene, the defending Division I champs, at Stellos Stadium.