Telegraph photo by TOM KING Bishop Guertin's Miguel Ocque, left, gets a shot off for the first goal of the game Tuesday night despite the defense of Nashua North's Stephen Norris (8) and Matt Urea (6) at Stellos Stadium. The Cards won, 3-0.

Sometimes a few, uh, encouraging words can go a long way.

The Nashua High School North boys soccer team was dominating possession with countless chances midway through the first half of its game with Bishop Guertin on Tuesday night at Stellos Stadium.

That’s when Cardinals coach Valdimir “Rocky” Roque got more involved, and Guertin came away with a season first win, 3-0, that at that time seemed impossible to attain.

“The first 10 minutes we were doing pretty well, then we lost control,” he said. “So I took a couple guys off from midfield and told them what was going on. Then they were able to manage again.”

You can bet they were. Guertin (1-3) finally got it back downfield, and after a pass from William Shea, sophomore Miguel Ocque took on two Titan defenders and chipped one over North keeper Simon Costa at the 25 mnute mark and the Cards had the only goal they would need.

“It was a very nice goal,” Roque said. “Miguel is working very, very hard, it’s his first varsity year, so he’s acclimating. We tell him ‘Just be relaxed, you’re a good player.'”

The Titans (0-3) did everything but score.

“If we could score and take advantage of the opportunities we had in the first half, it’s a different game,” North coach Josh Downing said. “In my opinion we made a mental mistake on that first goal. We tried to get too cute on the back (line) and it bit us. We had to have at least two or three in on the goalie (BG’s Aiden Laurendeau) in that half. And I felt like we possessed the ball well. … The kids get frustrated. I tip my cap to BG. But I felt we played a pretty good game.”

Guertin got two goals in what was a somewhat different second half. Just under two minutes in, Colin McCarthy beat Costa with a free kick, and later in the half Zachary Morris used his height to head in a corner by Thomas Cairns.

“Just some little mental mistakes,” Downing said. “Giving them a free kick from the 18 is a dangerous, dangerous thing. It’s not necessary. Then mismarking on a corner kick.”

Laurendeau was fantastic with eight saves, while being saved by the crossbar as North’s Stephen Norris looked like he had a winner on a header off a corner. Late in the game, the Cards inserted Pranav Marwaha in goal and he made two saves.

“Aiden was unbelievable,” Roque said, noting that the Cards didn’t know what they had in their two goalies but brought in a goalie coach in the preseason. The results spoke for themselves.

Now the Titans want to tell themselves they can turn the tables in a rematch set for Saturday.

“The good thing about a season like this is we get to turn around and play them again on Saturday,” Downing said. “Talk is cheap if you don’t come out and have different results on Saturday. That’s what we’re hoping for.”

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