Third-quarter run helps lift Derryfield boys lacrosse to win against Bedford (video)

MANCHESTER - Things aren't always as bad as they seem.

Although it may have felt to the Derryfield School boys lacrosse team that it was facing a big deficit at halftime of Saturday's game against Bedford, the Cougars were down just one goal.

After having that pointed out, Derryfield picked it up in the second half, outscoring Bedford 5-1 in the third quarter on the way to a 9-7 win over the Bulldogs in a non-division game.

The Cougars (2-0, No. 5 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) broke open a tie game with a 3-0 run in the final two-plus minutes of the third quarter and did enough in the fourth to pick up the win over Bedford (1-2, No. 10). Quinn Silvio led the way with four goals and RJ Proulx had three, as each had a goal during the decisive run.

That came after Derryfield had gone more than 21 minutes in the first half without a goal and trailed 4-2 until Tate Flint scored with 20.3 remaining until halftime.

"To be honest, I thought we were down 5-2 at one point," Derryfield coach Chris Hettler said. "When I knew it was only 4-2, I said ‘let’s get one before the half.’ We got within 4-3 and I was looking around at the guys at halftime and you’d think we were down by five goals. Let’s go, we’re playing well, we hit some pipes, the goalie is making great saves. I could see them start to spark up a little bit. They believed."

Flint also had three assists, all in the second half, and Alex Murray added two helpers for Derryfield. Dugan Brewer-Little scored with seven-tenths of a second left in the third quarter to give the Cougars an 8-5 lead and he also had an assist while Parker Lebiedz made 11 saves.

Bedford got three goals from Sean Toscano and two from Derek Kulesza while Joe Mikol and Zachary Griffin had a goal apiece. Matt Desmond made 12 saves, including a couple in the second quarter to help set up the Bulldogs' lead.

After holding Pinkerton to just five goals in a loss on Thursday night, the Bulldogs saw the Cougars score twice in the game's first 2:21, but then held them scoreless until the final seconds of the half.

"Coming in from the Pinkerton game, our defense had a lot of fire and we kind of tried to ride that wave into this game," Bedford coach Matt Johansmeyer said. "With Matt Desmond and Parker Henrichon and those guys down there, they’re doing a great job."

Bedford scored three of its goals in transition, but when the Bulldogs weren't scoring, struggled on clears, turning the ball over 17 times.

"We started off pretty well and then we had trouble in between the boxes," Johansmeyer said. "We knew it was going to be a battle between the boxes and that’s what in the end gave us trouble. We’ve got to clean that up, be healthy all the way through and we’ll be in good shape moving forward."

The Bulldogs won the opening faceoff but after setting up in the attacking zone, lost the ball and Brewer-Little scooped it up and raced down field. He found Proulx next to the goal and Proulx finished to give Derryfield a 1-0 lead 1:12 into the game. Silvio made it 2-0 just 1:09 later but Bedford's defense would tighten up after that.

Toscano scored with 5:47 left in the first quarter to cut the lead in half and he and Kulesza scored back-to-back goals just 47 seconds apart to give Bedford a 3-2 lead going into the second. Mikol scored in transition with 9:54 to play in the first half to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead.

"We got off to a great start, ran the offense and defense the way we wanted to," Hettler said. "They get on a run, get some easy transition goals, and it was exactly the way we scouted it. We knew they had a lot of athletes, we knew they were dangerous in transition, we thought we matched up well six-on-six. When we were able to matchup and limit their transition, the guys did really well."

Flint ended Derryfield's drought and the Cougars came out strong in the second half, keeping possession and firing shots at Desmond until Silvio tied the game with 8:58 remaining in the third.

Bedford tried to answer back, but Lebiedz came up with three straight saves to keep it a tie game, and moments later, Flint connected with Proulx to give Derryfield a 5-4 lead. Toscano tied it up again a little more than two minutes later but the Cougars won the faceoff, and after a save by Desmond, the ball was kicked around in front of the goal until Silvio picked it up and put it in the back of the net.

That started the Cougars' 3-0 run to swing momentum going into the fourth quarter. Bedford was able to get back within two goals twice, as Griffin made it 9-7 with 5:04 left in the game, but the Bulldogs couldn't capitalize on their final opportunities.