Girls Lacrosse Finals Preview: A pair of streaks on the line in championship games

If it feels like you’ve seen this matchup before in the Division I girls lacrosse championship, you’re sort of right.

There have been plenty of playoff matchups between the teams from Bishop Guertin and Bedford, but Tuesday’s title game will only be the second time they’ve played with a championship on the line.

Well, at least in girls lacrosse.

The schools have also met five times in the D1 girls basketball finals, including each of the last year years, with the Cardinals winning three of those. They also met in this year’s D1 girls soccer final, another one won by Bishop Guertin.

As for lacrosse, the only other meeting in the finals came in 2018, with the Cardinals winning in overtime. But the teams have also met in the playoffs three other times, including the semifinals last year and in 2019.

Overall, Bishop Guertin is 4-0 against Bedford in the playoffs since both teams moved up to D1 in 2015.

“I have a lot of respect,” Bedford coach Christine Hodgdon said. “I feel like it’s not about the final, it’s about the competition. We look forward to that second season, so when we get to the playoffs, we’re ready to welcome that and to be tested.”

Coming off a competitive game in Saturday’s 12-3 semifinal win over Pinkerton, Hodgdon believes it will be easier for the Bulldogs to get back up for a game against their biggest rival.

“I think this momentum is going to help us,” she said. “That high level of play is going to prepare us. It’s not like the middle of the season, where you play a couple of teams that are mid-range and then you’ve got to get up for a big game.”

With the Cardinals having won six of the last seven meetings between the teams, Bishop Guertin coach Leslie Why wouldn’t be surprised to see the Bulldogs throw a wrinkle at her team.

“We understand, we’ve played them before,” she said. “We want to see, if there’s film from (Saturday), if there’s anything new and different that we need to prepare. Then we really just need to stay on with our game. Sometimes we can get distracted. We need to stay with our plan and play our game. I’m happy we’re playing Bedford. It’s always a fun game because they’ve all played together for a long time.”

No. 1 Bishop Guertin (16-1) and No. 2 Bedford (16-2) will play for the title Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter. The Cardinals will be going for their fourth title in a row and fifth since moving up to D1 in 2015; the Bulldogs are trying to win their second title and first in D1.

Division II

No. 3 Hollis Brookline (15-4) vs. No. 1 Portsmouth (18-2)

These two teams have as much of a playoff history as the teams in the D1 final, with Portsmouth winning all of the previous four postseason meetings.

That includes last year’s championship game, where the Clippers rallied late for an 8-7 win over the Cavaliers. The teams also met in the D2 final in 2018, which Portsmouth won 16-10.

From 2009-16, the programs were in different divisions, starting when Portsmouth moved up from D3 before the 2009 season. HB made the jump from D3 to D1 in 2011 and was there until moving down to D2 in 2017.

But in 2006, the teams met in the D3 semifinals, with Portsmouth getting the win; the Clippers would go on to lose to ConVal in the final. The following year, the two faced off again in the D3 final, with the Clippers winning 10-8. HB would bounce back to win D3 titles in 2009-10.

This year, Portsmouth took home an 11-9 win, its closest game of the season within the division. The teams will play again at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.

This will be Portsmouth’s last shot at a D2 title for at least two years, as the Clippers will move up to D1 for the next two-year cycle starting in 2023. They haven’t lost a game to a division opponent since losing the title game to Hanover on June 7, 2016, winning 80 straight games in D2, including the last four championships.

Division III

No. 2 Hopkinton (15-1) vs. No. 1 Bow (16-1)

Third time will decided a champion, as the teams not only split a pair of games in the regular season, they each won by a goal. The Hawks took the season-opener, 13-12 in overtime at Bow, and the Falcons returned the favor on May 9, winning at Hopkinton 14-13.

For the Falcons, only three times were they held below their season average of 17.4 goals per game, and Hopkinton was the only team this year to score in double digits against Bow. In fact, the closest game the Falcons had otherwise was a 12-8 win at Derryfield on April 20; Bow blew the Cougars out in the semifinals, 17-4.

While Hopkinton has allowed double-digit goals on three other occasions, only Bow has held the Hawks to under 17 goals. They come in averaging 18.8 goals per game, including 21 in two playoff wins.

Bow played in the first eight D2 championship games contested, from 2002-09, winning four of them, but this will be the Falcons first appearance in the D3 title game. Hopkinton has advanced to four straight D3 championship games, having won its only title in 2019.

The teams will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Bank of NH Stadium in Laconia.