Bishop Guertin faceoff man Hugh Roark (25) battles St. John Prep's Will Crawford during Thursday night's inter-state clash at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Make no mistake, the Bishop Guertin High School boys lacrosse team was intent on leaving Merrimack College’s Duane Stadium with a win on Thursday night.

It didn’t turn out that way, as Massachusetts power St. John’s Prep set the tone from the start in a 14-7 win, but the Cards weren’t just there to be window dressing.

“I’ve been around BG lacrosse for 20-something years,” Cards head coach Brian Cameron, a former Cardinal standout, said. “I know when certain teams – this team’s going to be special. It’s early in the season, but we showed a lot of fight especially in the last quarter, everybody was going hard, we were getting good opportunities, riding hard, scoring goals. We just have to build on that. …

“When you look at our senior class, and how talented they are and what they’ve been able to accomplish, we want to win these games. That’s why it’s disappointed tonight. We want win these (out-of-state) games and we have five more to prove it.”

Including the next one, Saturday at 1 p.m. at Stellos Stadium vs. St. Joseph’s of Trumbull, Conn. The Cards (1-1) will try to avoid the kind of start they experienced last night, when the Eagles (6-1) jumped out to a 6-0 lead by two minutes into the second quarter.

“This was one of those where we have an advantage because we start earlier (regular season games end of March) than they do,” Eagles coach John Pynchon said. “I told our guys ‘You’ve been playing a little bit longer, you’ve played some tough games already.’ I think that was a big part of it today.”

Guertin had two big runs. Down 8-1, they got goals by Drew Redfern, Jack Redfern and Hudson Schmitt to make it 8-4 going into the half with momentum. However, SJP got goals by Bo Minogue 26 seconds into the third quarter and Mac Crawford eight minutes later to take a 10-4 lead into the third quarter.

“It was 8-4, we had a tough call to start the half, we had a tough call on a push with possession, it was 9-4 and maybe you’re looking at 8-5,” Cameron said. “…They’ll make you pay for mistakes, and you’ve got to make stops and we didn’t make enough, especially in the first couple of possessions in the third.”

Bishop Guertin’s Jack Redfern (2) fires a shot St. John’s Prep goalie Beckett Flynn during Thursday night’s inter-state clash at Merrimack College. Redfern scored on the play. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Guertin’s second run came late when the Cards scored three times in the fourth, including two straight with two of them coming from King, to give him a hat trick and get BG to within 13-7 with 5:01 to play. Cam Hayden also scored for BG, while St. John’s Josh Barton got his hat trick with the first of two early fourth quarter goals that opened up a 12-4 lead for the hosts.

Still, Eagles second half netminder Mattheus Du Plessis was busy with seven saves, otherwise the game could have become a nailbiter.

The Cards get very few of those in NHIAA play, so they can feed off these. Because in-state is still their main objective.

“Tyler McLeod our captain said it in the huddle, our main goal is June 14 (date of the Division I finals),” Cameron said. “We’re going for six in a row, that would be program history, and that’s our main goal.”