Bishop Guertin girls lacrosse rallies in the second half to beat Exeter, win D1 championship

PORTSMOUTH – The Bishop Guertin High School girls lacrosse team faced a bit of uncertainty going into this season.

The Cardinals had a new head coach – the third in four years – and they were moving up to Division I. With just five seniors back from a team that lost in the Division II quarterfinals a year ago, how Bishop Guertin would do was a bit of a question mark.

Turns out, the Cardinals were just fine.

No. 3 Bishop Guertin outscored No. 4 Exeter 9-3 in the second half Thursday to win 13-9 in the D1 championship game at Portsmouth High School.

Bryn Carroll scored four goals while Kristin Cameron scored the go-ahead and game-winning goals and goalie Lauren Trepaney made a handful of big saves down the stretch to help the Cardinals (17-3) maintain what was by then a comfortable lead.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Bishop Guertin coach Kerry D’Ambroise said. “It’s crazy to just have it and it’s exciting.”

Caroline Boudreau also had three goals and an assist, Olivia Koutsos had two goals and Krya Lowenberg  and Kate Bradford (assist) had a goal each.

Exeter, which was playing in the D1 title game for the first time as well, got two goals apiece from Jenna Henningsen and Kristina Keith while Shannon Bucklin, Kelly Moran, Anna Vogt, Bridget Babcock and Ana Toomey (assist) each added a goal.

For the second game in a row, Bishop Guertin knocked off a team it lost to during the regular season. After losing to Exeter (16-5) by two goals early in the year, D’Ambroise wanted her team to just worry about the things that it could control.

“Focus on ourselves, that was the biggest thing,” she said. “Continuing for us to improve where we were weak, and not focusing on what they do well, but what we do well and how were we going to continue to improve that.”

But like it did in the semifinals against Pinkerton, Bishop Guertin fell behind in the first half, largely because it couldn’t control the draw. In the second half, that changed, as Carroll helped the Cardinals win seven of the final eight.

“I just wanted it more,” Carroll said. “I was pushing harder, the team was pushing harder. We wanted it more and that’s what it comes down to.”

The Cardinals took a 2-1 lead early in the first half, but Exeter scored four of the next five, as the Hawks won the draw and took their time on each possession. After Carroll scored to tie the game 3-3 with 8:01 left in the first, Exeter controlled the ball for almost six minutes, going up 5-3.

Carroll scored again to make it a one-goal game, but the Hawks won the draw again and scored 30 seconds later to make it 6-4, and that’s where it stood at halftime.

But Bishop Guertin knew the second half was when it played its best lacrosse.

“I don’t know what happens to us in the first half, but we just turn it on in the second half,” Carroll said. “That’s when it’s most crucial.”

The Cardinals scored twice in the first 4:32 to tie the game and went ahead 7-6 on another goal by Carroll with 15:51 to play. But Exeter came right back, scoring two goals in 32 seconds to take an 8-7 lead with 13:23 to play.

From there, Carroll won all but one draw the rest of the game, and the Cardinals took advantage, going on a 5-0 run to take control of the game. Boudreau scored back-to-back goals in a span of 43 seconds, the second of which put Bishop Guertin up 12-8 with 7:02 to play.

And then it was Trepaney’s time to step up, as she made some tough saves and forced a couple of turnovers.

“At the moment, I knew they (the stops) were big, but I was more made because I gave up two interceptions,” she said. “I wanted to get it back on offense.”

Bishop Guertin was able to, and after Lowenberg scored off a free position with seven seconds left, the Cardinals won the draw again and the celebration began.

“This is unreal,” Carroll said. “I only dreamed about this and I’m so proud of how we played as a team.”