Bishop Guertin's Kelsey Ackerman battles Pinkerton's Damoira Smith (22) during Tuesday's clash of Division I contenders at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Midway through the second half of Tuesday’s showdown with fellow unbeaten Pinkerton Academy, Bishop Guertin girls soccer coach Chris Millett raised his voice in alarm.

“No, no, not the middle!” he said of where his players had kicked the ball.

About 10 minutes later, you found out why when Astro Camryn McNulty bulled her way down the middle of the field in BG terriory, beat two defenders and fired a blistering shot that spun off the fingertips of BG keeper Olivia Baker in the 72nd minute to give the defending Division I champion Astros a 2-1 win. Baker still had a great game with 13 saves.

Yes, Millett’s worst fears came true as his team (8-1-1) suffered its first loss. He knew the Astros were bigger, faster and stronger – but was hoping his team could be better.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “They’re fast and they’re defending champions. You can see it. … We wanted to work the outsides. But unfortunately when you get frantic and you get focused on trying to get a goal, clock’s running out. I think the default for a lot of players is you go to the center of the pitch but it is what it is. We’re learn from it.”

Indeed, the Astros were trying to impose their will as much as possible and McNulty did just that.

“She’s great, she played a full game today,” Astros coach Danielle Rappa said. “She stepped up for us. Kept their best player (BG’s Zoe Horton-Sousa) at bay and stepped up when we needed somebody to step up right at the end.”

The Cards took a 1-0 lead into the break on a goal by Charlotte Accomando, burying a slight deflection off of a ball by by Kareena Sondhi (assist) just over 31 minutes into the game.

“She followed her run and she was on the end of it,” Millett said of Accomando. “Kudos to her.”

The Astros (7-0-1), who face top-ranked Bedford on Thursday, got the tying goal less then two minutes into the second half on a shot from right wing by Bella Sippel.

But the Cards had other chances in the second half with things still 1-1. Horton-Sousa was robbed on a diving save by Astros keeper Sydney Mlynarski in the 55th minute. Then with Guertin trailing late, Damoira Smith turned her back and blocked a shot by the Cards’ Emerson Brown after it looked like Brown had a clear view of the goal from about 25 yards out.

Frustrating.

“We are at our best when we’re possessing the ball,” Millett said. “There were multiple times when we were kicking up and dump and running, not connecting, and we don’t play good soccer when that’s the case…

“I think it was a defensive breakdown on both goals. And you get better by playing good teams. And they’re a helluva team.”

“I told them they still had a good half, even though they were down by one,” Rappa said. “So we made a few tweaks at half, told them they could do it and they believe they could do it. It’s great to have a test to know where we really stand.”

The Cards, who also got a good game from Maddi Long, know they stand just a tiny bit back from perhaps the top two. Getting to the next, final level isn’t rocket science.

“Keep working hard in practice, and keep learning from both our successes and some of our miscues,” Millett said. “…I think this will be a good learning experience.”