Westford girls lacrosse comes back in second half to beat Bishop Guertin

NASHUA – The Westford Academy girls lacrosse team needed to wake up.

After stumbling through most of the first half, the Grey Ghosts came to life, going on a 10-0 run to rally for a 14-11 win Saturday over Bishop Guertin at Stellos Stadium.

Westford got six goals from Erica Mattila, four in the second half, and Bailey Mongillo added four goals and three assists.

The Ghosts (13-0) held the Cardinals scoreless for almost 28 minutes. Whether it was a call against Bishop Guertin late in the first half, or a halftime adjustment, or just waking up early on a weekend, Westford turned things around in the second half.

“Second half, (they were) on their game,” Westford coach Julie Oliver said. “We talked about having the will to win and they just had to turn this switch on.”

The switch is usually on from the start for the Ghosts, but after playing four games this week, they were off at the beginning of this one.

“They normally start out firing from the beginning,” Westford assistant coach Christine Sinnigen said. “I just think that we had so many games back-to-back and it’s been a lot of tough games.”

Callie Santos and Kristin Cameron each had a two goals and two assists for the Cardinals (4-2) while Caley Prunier and Jess Lambert also scored twice each.

Bishop Guertin led 8-4 with 4:26 left in the first half and almost made it a five-goal lead when a shot by Nicole Pettiglio hit the post. Moments later, Pettiglio was assessed a yellow card and Westford scored on the advantage.

The Ghosts added another goal before halftime to make it 8-6, then scored twice in the first three minutes of the second half to tie the game. Bishop Guertin was able to slow down the run, but with 15:07 left in the game, Mattila started Westford on a run of five goals in five minutes. She added her sixth of the game with 7:20 left to make it 14-8.

“The difference between the first half and the second half was that we weren’t going to the cage and we weren’t winning the draw,” Bishop Guertin coach Mandy Rogers said. “The draw was the big thing for us in the first half. You have to take it by moment by moment thing. One play never changes the whole game. If something happens, you need to flip your mind and make a change.”

The Cardinals were able to trim the deficit, scoring three times in the 1:49 to cut Westford’s lead in half.

“The things that I loved about (Saturday) were that everything we applied in practice, we showed in the game,” Rogers said. “The holes that we had were the things that we haven’t gone over yet. I’m excited to teach those things to this team that already has the hustle and the heart. They already want to win, we just need to refine.”

Bishop Guertin returns to action on Tuesday at Winnacunnet.