Bishop Guertin's Natalie Coutu fires a shot on Bedford goaltender Abigail Weidner during the Cards' 15-8 win over the Bulldogs Tuesday at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – A tale of two halves? Try a tale of two games.

There was the first game, which lasted about 10 minutes, during which the Bishop Guertin High School girls lacrosse game trailed Bedford, 3-0, in a battle of unbeatens Tuesday at Stellos Stadium.

Then there was the second game, the final 40 minutes or so, during which the Cardinals outscored the Bulldogs 15-5 to record a win going away, 15-8, and improve to 8-0.

“Basically, after the first three goals that Bedford had, we decided we were going to flip this around right now and not let them get any more, get the next four or five,” said Amelia Piercy, who finished with four goals plus an assist and kept the ship afloat before scoring leader Rylee Bouvier (four goals, thee assists) got into the act.

“I think we kind of need our adrenalin hit to get going,” Cards coach Leslie Why said.

Guertin inserted Bouvier and Lindsay Hult to get more victories in draw controls, and that seemed to make a difference. So, too, did the eventual arrival of defensive leader Emma Hayhurst, who an earlier exam to take causing her to miss the start.

Those differences added up to Guertin, starting with a Piercy goal with15:20 left in the first half, scoring four straight goals to take a 4-3 lead. Bedford grabbed the edge back at 6-5 on a Julian Bell score with 3:13 left in the half before the Cards went on a run of three straight to

go into the intermission up 8-6 (go-ahead goal by Katherine Campel). The Cards led 9-7 early in the second half, and the Bulldogs went on a scoreless stretch of just over 19 minutes. It was over.

“We definitely took them for granted a little bit, and we ran out of some physical and mental stamina, especially right before the half,” Bedford coach Christine Hodgdon said. “Second half we went out ready to go, but one of the things that we didn’t do on our offensive end was take care of the ball. … And they came down, were aggressive.

“Definitely a different second half and not the outcome I expected.”

Bouvier finally got untracked, scoring BG’s first three goals of the second half as the Cards grabbed an 11-7 lead and never looked back. The two teams meet again Thursday in Bedford.

Others got into the act as well, as Maddie Keating had a hat trick (with an assist), and Hult had two goals and two assists. Coutu finished with a goal and three assists, while Stephanie Reap added an assist. Guertin (8-0)needed to spread that wealth, especially when Bouvier was blanked in the first half.

“Even though people bite really hard on Bouvier and Lindsay Hult, we have seven attackers who can score,” Why said. “So you give it to the person who can score. Our plays allow for everybody to be in the action.

“Momentum is hard to get when it’s one goal, one goal. But if you can get it to three goals, it’s hard to come back from that.”

Bedford (9-1) got five goals from sophomore sensation Regan O’Brien while Sydney Grogan was tough defensively in front of goalie Abigail Weidner (six saves). Makenna Reekie had five stops for BG.

“We just get jittery in the first two minutes,” Why said, “and then everyone remembers, ‘This is how we do this.'”

And they’ll try to do it again on Thursday.

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