Bishop Guertin's Lindsey Hult.

CONCORD – Although it might not look it from the final score, Bishop Guertin dropped a tight contest against the top-ranked Crimson Tide of Concord on Friday night, falling 7-4 in the NHIAA Division I girls hockey quarterfinals.

Concord led 4-3 with a minute left in regulation and sealed the victory with empty net goals from freshman Emma LaRiviere, as well as juniors Joanna Dustin and Jaelyn Kelleher. The goals from Dustin and Kelleher proved crucial as exactly 14 seconds after LaRiviere’s goal and with 32 seconds left in regulation, junior Brooke Yabroudy scored for the Cardinals to make the score 5-4.

The wild finish provided a fitting end to a contest that seemed in reach for both sides.

LaRiviere provided the game’s first goal just under three minutes into the first period. However, Junior Kathryn Simpson responded, finding junior Lindsey Hult right in front of the net with 14 seconds before the first intermission to tie up the contest in what would be the first of three assists on the night for Simpson.

That tit-for-tat continued again in the second period with Concord sophomore Kaitlyn McKinnon and Bishop Guertin Junior Dara Estes trading goals 28 seconds apart early in the period and Bishop Guertin sophomore Julie McLaughlin answering Dustin’s goal to keep the deadlock.

Concord sophomore Amy Cohen provided the tiebreaker just seconds before the second intermission, giving the hosts a psychological edge heading into the locker room.

Following Concord’s 6-5 victory over Bishop Guertin in late January, Concord Head Coach Patrick McDonough knew this matchup would be close even if that game was Concord’s third in three days while they came into this contest with almost a week off.

For Bishop Guertin Head Coach Scott Ciszek, the two scoring responses in the second period and Yabroudy’s late goal served as testament to his squad’s tenacity throughout the night.

“It showed that we were never really out of the game, (the girls) kept their mental faculties about them,” he said. “They kept on churning and bringing the pucks to the net. That’s the effort, you can never say enough about the effort. They didn’t give up until the game was over.”

Concord was just two goals away from an undefeated season, with losses to Hanover and Lebanon-Stevens-Kearsarge in mid-February providing the only blemishes in a 16-2 regular season. They will now have to Hanover again on Tuesday, with the Marauders defeating Pinkerton 11-1 in other Friday action.

Bishop Guertin finishes their year 9-10 including Friday’s loss, with a 7-3 record over the month of February.

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