Bedford's Mary Lenti charges toward BG goalie Ayla Saeturn early on in Wednesday's game at Bedford's Bulldog Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

BEDFORD – Combine stick skills with pure athleticism and you’ve got a pretty darn good team.

That’s the buzzsaw the Bishop Guertin High School field hockey team ran into on Wednesday, suffering an uncharacteristic 7-1 thrashing at the hands of the Bedford Bulldogs.

“We knew they were going to be good, they have some really awesome seniors,” Guertin coach Dakota Bilodeau said, her team now1-1 on the young season. “They’re good, it’s early, and we’re learning, still feeling it out and making adjustments. I think our second half (outscored 3-1) was a lot better than the first half.”

Just a little over halfway into the first quarter the Cards were down 3-0. It was 4-0 at the half, and 6-1 after three quarters.

“We started a little hesitant and slow,” Bilodeau said. “I don’t think we came out of the jump as fast as we could. You know, we’re winning or we’re learning, and we’re definitely learning. … We’re still putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Second game of the year. ”

But for the Bulldogs, who got three goals from Teagan O’Donnell and a pair by Mary Lenti, this was their season opener. And that may have been a plus for them.

“This was our first game,” Bedford coach Kate Gaudreau said, “and the girls were just dying to play. A lot of it was that. This group is really special.”

Their hunger was evident from the start. Just over three minutes in Lenti just forced the ball into the goal, with a couple of Guertin players diving to the ground in vain to stop it from going in. Four minutes later Eloise Montagano (goal, two assists) lofted a ball over BG goalie Ayla Saeturn for a 2-0 Bedford lead and the Black & Red party was underway. Ella Putney had Bedford’s final goal in the fourth quarter.

Guertin barely had the ball in the scoring area, and the Cards’ lone goal was by Addison Daddona off a penalty corner with 3:49 to play in the third quarter. It was a physical battle, but Guertin’s key players like Lola Dumont and Carly Green could never get free to push the ball for any extended time to control possessions.

Saeturn had 10 stops to try to keep things as close as she could. She and the defense led by Danielle Kapala were just outmaned.

Bilodeau has just six seniors, compared to Bedford’s 13, so she’s looking forward to seeing this team gell toward tourney time in six to seven weeks.

“That’s when it gets fun,” she said.

Because yesterday had to be anything but.