NASHUA – A 5-9-1 season ended with a tough 3-1 loss in the Division I prelims for the Bedford High School girls field hockey team this past Tuesday.

But don’t look so much at the record, Bulldogs coach Anneke McStowe said. It doesn’t tell the whole story.

“On paper, we don’t have the best looking record,” she said. “But these girls had close games, overtimes, lost by one goal (five times) over and over and over again. And that just shows the hard work all season.”

But it was the No. 6 Cardinals (10-5) who moved on to the quarterfinals, mainly on the strength of a fast start at Stellos Stadium.

BG’s Brooke Yabroudy opened the scoring just over eight minutes in, beating tough Bedford goalie Rachael Noble to her right with a shot to the open part of the goal.

“We’ve just picked it up completely, and we’re running hard to every ball which is making a big difference,” Yabroudy said.

Cards sophomore Rylee Bouvier, who assisted on the first tally, got a huge goal, firing it airborn during a flurry to give Guertin an important 2-0 lead nearly 21 minutes into the first half. Yabroudy recorded the assist.

“This was the same type of game we’ve had all year with great starts,” Cards coach Steve Duprat said.

“But we were able to finish our opportunities which is the difference between playing behind, or playing even. You get that first one, that energy level is really helpful.”

But the Bulldogs fought back, controlling play late in the first half and it spilled into the second half as Bedford freshman Regan O’Brien pushed a rebound past Cards goalkie Makenna Reekie (three saves) with 15:59 to play to cut it to 2-1.

Tosi made the original kick save on a hard shot by Bulldog Chamberlain Bell. Earlier, Cards’ first half goalie Monina Tosi had four stops to help preserve the lead.

“We wanted to come out really strong, but we didn’t,” Bulldogs coach Anneke McStowe said.

“We tend to do this every game, find momentum. Unfortunately BG was great at cutting to the ball, they were able to see where we were going to be passing to but they were just a little bit faster. But I’m really proud of my girls.”

McStowe’s observation rang true especially in the final six minutes, when the Cardinals regained their early game touch and put more pressure on Noble, who had seven saves.

That pressure finally turned into a Stephanie Coulombe insurance goal with 1:27 to play. Sarah Coyle got the assist and Bedford’s season came to a close.