Bishop Guertin's Lola Dumont races Bedford's Eloise Montagano to the ball in front of BG goalie Ayla Saeturn during Wednesday's clash of Division I contenders at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It’s early, but Wednesday’s Division I field hockey contest between Bishop Guertin and rival Bedford certainly looked like it would run late.

Enter the Bulldogs’ Eloise Montagano. With the Cards and ‘Dogs scoreless and looking like overtime was in the future with 5:24 remaining, Montagano made a nice stick move and fired an open shot that beat Bishop Guertin junior goalie Ayla Saeturn. It was the only goal Bedford would need in what became a 2-0 win at Stellos Stadium.

“Good team, we knew it was going to be a good game,” Cards coach Dakota Bilodeau said, her 1-1 team blanked after putting up a 10-spot on Timberlane in their opener late last week. “Luckily it’s early in the season. We know we’re not playing our best field hockey yet and there’s a lot more to come.”

After a scoreless first half in which both teams had chances, the third quarter was eventful. Guertin came up empty on a flurry of penalty corners, and the Bulldogs actually had a penalty stroke with 2:39 left in the period that Teagan O’Donnell fired wide.

Guertin put on another flurry early in the fourth and the game certainly seemed headed for OT before Montagano scored, assisted by Ella Putney.

“I saw the open lane, so I knew if I was able to create the lane after the first move, I’d be able to take the open shot,” Montagano said.

“Eloise has been a consistent player,” Bedford coach Kate Gaudreau said. “It’s her third year of varsity and she has been just champing at the bit. I had just taken her out and told her ‘Don’t worry about scoring, just play your game.’ And she made a beautiful move and do a little reverse stick chip. … She needed that.”

Gaudreau, a former Rivier head coach, knew goals wouldn’t come easy in this one.

“This BG defense is solid,” Gaudreau said. “Lola Dumont anchors them at center ‘D’. They’re very well coached, I have a lot of respect for Dakota. I knew this was going to be a battle. BG’s a great team, they’ve got great athletes.”

One of them was Saeturn, who at times was under siege but survived with nine saves until late. Players like Maddie Harrington and Emiley Vinciguerra tried to get the offense going and get one past Bedford goalie Addie Wolfinger but to no avail. And it was over when Putney scored an insurance goal from the right side with 1:36 to go.

“They’re a great team, and it’s great to face them,” Bilodeau said of Bedford. “But this game doesn’t define us. … It’s early, and I hope our stock keeps rising. It should.”