Bishop Guertin's Camryn Leighton (6) races upfield, chased by Longmeadow's Ellie Gabel during Saturday's inter-state contest at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The learning curve has already begun for the Bishop Guertin High School girls lacrosse team.

The Cards play out of state games for just that reason, and despite losing to Longmeadow (Mass.) High School 14-8 on Saturday at Stellos Stadium, there was still a lot to take out of that contest going forward.

“Absolutely,” Cards coach Callie Santos said. “We learned about our team today in a really positive way, which is exciting. And I think that’s the reason why we play these games, and we get these opportunities to play against other programs, so it’s been a good experience, I believe.”

And even more of a bonus when you win. BG (2-1) was actually leading 7-5 with 7:55 to play in the third quarter and were outscored 9-1 the rest of the way.

“They were always going to be a team that was going to fight back for a win,” Santos said. “So we just had to stay composed. We made a few mistakes offensively, and that resulted in having to play a lot more defense.”

The Cards were led by Lola Dumont with five goals and assist, while Longmeadow was paced by Kerry Conway with four goals. Dumont however was ill, and fought through it as best she could with occasional breaks. Add to that the fact that another offensive key, Abby Lynn, has been nursing an injury since the preseason and Sydney Brophy was out, and BG was somewhat limited.

“Everyone’s got to step up in a different way,” Santos said. “We had great freshmen goals (Sam Butler and Kaylee Kruikshank). Not having Abby, not having Sidney (Brophy) today was definitely a factor.”

Guertin’s other score was by Bella Dawson in the first quarter,evening the score at 2. BG lead 3-2 after one, 6-5 at the half, but then the Lancers got in gear after Dumont scored for that 7-5 lead. Longmeadow then scored four stright to grab a 9-7 lead after three. There was hope when Butler scored off a pretty feed from Charlotte Accomando with 8:23 left to close to within 9-8, but that was the last score the Cards would have.

“I think we just had to really adapt to how the refs were calling the game,” Longmeadow coach Kelly Gallo said. “We had a lot of fouls and a lot of yellow cards in the first half. That was really our focal point at halftime, we had to limit our fouls and play the game the game the refs are calling. And we had to finish our shots. Their goalie (BG’s Emma Smith, nine saves) had a lot of big saves on us. We were focusing on getting her moving and focusing on getting the ball in the back of the net.”

Which they did. Addy Carina had three goals while two each were by Molly Henshon and Chloe Anderson to help lead the way for the visitors.

Meanwhile the hosts will look and learn.

“Honestly they’re a really good team, they were going to fight no matter what,” Santos said. “Just working through the pieces and making sure we’re able to complete a game more consistently.”