Division I boys lacrosse championship: Make that three straight for Bishop Guertin
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Jun. 11—EXETER — For about 15 minutes, the NHIAA Division I boys lacrosse state championship game on Sunday looked like so many memorable battles between Bishop Guertin and Pinkerton Academy.
Then the Cardinals began a 13-0 run that secured them a 15-6 triumph at Bill Ball Stadium and their third consecutive D-I title.
The championship is BG's 12th overall, all of which have come since 2005 under coach Chris Cameron, in what was the program's 18th straight final appearance. Cameron is now tied with legendary Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly for the most boys lacrosse state championships in NHIAA history.
Pinkerton and the Cardinals have met in 12 Division I finals.
"We just wore them down," Cameron said of Sunday's latest final meeting between the programs.
The score was tied at two goals each after the opening 12 minutes and third-seeded Pinkerton (15-6) took a 3-2 lead on junior attackman Adam Scala's goal 1:18 into the second quarter.
The Astros did not score again until 5:46 remained — after the 12-goal mark to start running time was reached.
Top-seeded Bishop Guertin (18-3), which finished unbeaten against New Hampshire competition, took a 6-3 lead into halftime and a 13-3 advantage into the fourth quarter.
"They came out hard but ... even if they started hot, we're just going to wear them down over time," Cardinals senior defenseman Colin Roark said. "Yeah, they came out hot, we came out slow but we picked it up."
Bishop Guertin knotted the score at 3-3 on a second-quarter goal from senior midfielder Connor Bouvier. Classmate Tim Kiely scored the final three first-half goals over the last 8:20 before halftime.
"At halftime, we felt pretty good," Pinkerton coach Steve Gaudreau said. "We felt like, defensively, a lot of the stuff we had worked on — we were able to kind of hold them in check — but ultimately we needed to make plays on the offensive side of the ball. We couldn't do that."
Astros junior star faceoff specialist Cole Frank went 15-for-24 from the X but many of those Pinkerton possessions he created ended with turnovers caused by Bishop Guertin.
Cameron said the Cardinals played a more aggressive style defensively than usual and wanted to cut off Frank's outlet to Pinkerton senior attackman Ryan Lynch off faceoffs.
Cameron credited Rourke, the Division I defensive player of the year, and junior long-stick midfielder Alex Dumont for causing a number of Astros turnovers.
"We knew they wanted to slow it down for the defensive and offensive (sides) and if we would have just let them pass it around, it would have shortened the game," Cameron said, "so that's why we were like, 'We've just got to get after these guys.'"
Pinkerton tried to slow the Cardinals' fast-paced offense with a zone defensive scheme. BG countered by firing quick shots so the Astros could not properly set up their zone scheme.
Bouvier finished with a game-high four goals. The Cardinals also received three goals each from Kiely and Aiden Laurendeau, two from Jacob Caron and one each from Alex and Brady Dumont and Connor Guibord.
BG senior goalie Zach Connerty made three saves.
Sophomore Paulo Vazquez and senior Noah Zeman won a combined nine faceoffs for the Cardinals.
Scala and senior Michael Uber both scored twice for Pinkerton. The Astros also received a goal each from Frank and Ben Quintiliani. Astros senior goalies Tyler LeBlanc and Curtis Michaud made a combined seven saves.
"We could have rolled the ball out and maybe we would have won this year," Cameron said. "But we were tough on them (the players) and they bought in, they believed and that's what you get when that (happens). That was a dominant team."
