Bishop Guertin's Julie McLaughlin looks to get a shot off against Oyster River-Portsmouth's Kate Deans, center and Kelly Zhang during the Cards' 4-3 win Monday at Hudson's Cyclones Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HUDSON – It’s not rocket science. The job of any high school girls hockey team facing Bishop Guertin is to try and keep forwards Jenna Lynch and Julie McLaughlin off the scoreboard.

Easier said than done. Each scored two goals on Monday, including McLaughlin’s game-winner with just 25.4 seconds left, as the Cardinals halted Oyster River-Portsmouth’s 14-game winning streak with a dramatic 4-3 triumph at Cyclones Arena.

“They had to stop Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp in the Super Bowl, and how did (the Bengals) stop them?” ORP coach Jamie Long said. “You can know everything you want in the book … We knew it, but they’re young kids and they make mistakes. It was a helluva hockey game.”

And a huge win for Guertin, now 11-2 and riding a five-game win streak since its loss to Hanover a couple of weeks ago.

The Cardinals were actually starting at their third loss of the season, trailing 3-2 before Lynch broke in from left wing and flipped the puck past ORP goalie Amelie Cowieson with just 2:07 left to tie the game.

Nearly two minutes later, McLaughlin found herself alone on the right wing side after taking a pass from Gracie Menicci just outside the faceoff circle, and had plenty of time to line up a shot. Bullseye.

“We had the breakout and I knew my teammates would make a good pass,”McLaughlin said. “I was aiming far post because I beat her (earlier, in the first period) and it was off-sides. So I figured I’d try again.”

“She’s got a great shot,” Guertin coach Phil DeVita said. “We’d like her to use it all the time if we could. … We were saying in the third period we needed shot, shot, shots. We needed opportunities, we got a bunch of shots and they finally went in.”

What also made it a big win for the Cards was the fact it was the debut of Scarlet Casey in goal, and she responded with 23 saves, keeping Guertin in the game.

“We’re trying out certain things, people want to play different positions,” DeVita said. “This was our first game with her and she did really well.”

The Bobcat-Clippers, who got two goals from Kira Jacobs, had the Cards playing catchup most of the day. After a scoreless first period, ORP’s Kate Deans made it a 1-0 game just 43 seconds into the middle period. Lynch, assisted by McLaughlin, tied it at 6:05 before Jacobs’ first goal on a shorthanded breakaway put the visitors up 2-1 two minutes later. It came after Cowieson robbed Lynch on the same power play.

McLaughin evened things on a breakaway, assisted by Lynch, just 17 seconds into the third. But Jacobs, off a great feed from Maggie Farwell, give Oyster River-Portsmouth a 3-2 lead just two minutes later.

“They’re a well-coached team, and they tested our defense and tested our forwards to make sure we back-checked,” DeVita said.

After McLaughlin’s second goal, the Cards controlled the puck, cancelling any ORP thoughts of a tying goal. For Guertin, it had to be their best win of the season.

“This is a great team builder,” McLaughlin said. “We beat Souhegan (last week, 6-0) and had some great team play then. This game was just really coming together as a team.”

“It was just a great team effort,” DeVita said. “They were the first place team, and the girls really picked it up and focused as a team.

“It’s definitely a confidence builder, it really was a team effort. From the goalie, to the defense to the forwards, it was a confidence builder and I hope we can build on it for the next one.”

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