Bishop Guertin's Alex Dumont (17) keeps pace with Staples' Adam Udell during Saturday's inter-state contest at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It seems to be a recurring theme with the Bishop Guertin High School epic boys lacrosse matchup with Staples of Trumbull, Conn.

Great start, but not such a great finish.

Last year the Cards let a 6-0 lead slip away en route to an overtime loss down in Providence, R.I. But Saturday, while not as extreme, Guertin’s 3-0 early lead, plus a 6-4 lead in the third quarter, didn’t hold en route to a 9-8 loss at Stellos Stadium.

Guertin had the chance to tie it up just before the end of regulation, but Brady Dumont’s low shot with mere seconds left on the clock was stopped by Staples goaltender Josh Marcus (13 saves).

“Josh Marcus is a total stud, he was a starter for us as a freshman, goes on to win a state championship his first year,” Koshansky said. “I didn’t mind not having an overtime game today.

“Fortunate for us they didn’t get into their look, they didn’t get their look open,” Koshansky said. “We anticipated their two best shooters, jumped out to those guys, and wound up getting the stop there.”

“Our kids came out ready to play,” BG coach Chris Cameron said. “They weren’t intimidated. “We don’t have the experience we had last year, but we’re not that young where you can use it as an excuse. But you can see in certain parts of the game where we made some mistakes and we unraveled at some certain points. … It’s one little play…It’s stuff that’s fixable.”

But the Cards (2-2), who fell to St. John’s Prep earlier this past week, would rather fix things after a win. They led 5-4 at the half and Caleb Yeung’s second goal of the game made it 6-4, but the 4-3 sometime nationally ranked Wreckers fought back to tie it. BG grabbed a 7-6 lead on a Will Fleming goal with 2:12 left in the third quarter, but the Wreckers tied it on a goal by Charlie Ionnone with1:32 left and then went ahead for the first time – and for good– on Adam Udell’s goal with just 25.8 ticks left in the period, 8-7.

With just under five to play, Tristan Schaeffer got the key score giving Staples an all-important two-goal lead, 9-7. Given the pace of the game, the Cards were in trouble.

They got a goal with 1:15 left by Dumont to pull to within 9-8, but a turnover and a penalty kept them from not getting another chance until the final seconds, coming out of a time out.

“It’s not like we were terrible,” Cameron said. “They were a little bit better. We had chances when we were up and we just didn’t put them away … We’re just not explosive. We’re good in our defense, I think four or five of their goals were man-up. That’s on us.”

Staples was without a couple of key players due to injury, but persevered.

“Today we wound up playing a lot of different guys, we’re dealing with a couple of injuries,” Staples coach Will Koshansky said. “All those guys stepped up and made plays.”

To prove that, six Wreckers scored, with Schaeffer and Udell getting a pair and singles by Justin Halky, Charlie Clark and Ionnone. Dumont (with two assists), Yeung and Ben Dubois had two each while Owen King and Jeff Warren had single tallies. Will Murphy was solid in net with nine saves.

Still, Guertin gained something. They face their first real in-state challenge on Tuesday at Stellos vs. Bedford. Cameron will look to see how they bounce back.

“Let’s take (the loss) out on them,” Cameron said. “We play these games not just to help us get better but to win. … It’s a great experience.”

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