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SUDBURY, Mass. -- It was a pitcher’s duel from beginning to end, and ultimately a clutch walk-off single from Lincoln-Sudbury senior Brian Carroll was the difference, giving the Warriors (6-4) a 2-1 win over third-ranked BC High (7-2).

Junior Owen Bautze, in his second start of the year, got the win for Lincoln-Sudbury, scattering three hits in seven innings pitched. BC High’s one run came by way of a home run by leadoff hitter Dan Dougherty (2-for-4) in the third inning.

“BC High--they can always swing the bats. Last year they put a quick eight runs on us. [Owen] pitched phenomenal for seven straight innings," Carroll said in praise of his teammate. "He came out against a very good team and performed well."

Lincoln-Sudbury coach Kirk Fredericks echoed his senior’s remarks on Bautze, pointing out Bautze’s gradual improvement in terms of his mentality on the mound.

“It’s all about getting better," Fredericks said. "Earlier in the year if he gives up a home run it would have affected him for the next couple batters. Here he gives up a home run, he comes right back, and he does a nice job."

Following Dougherty’s home run in the third, the Warriors come back in the fourth with a run of their own. Sid Warrenbrand hit a single up the middle to score Ian Kinney and tie the ballgame at one.

“We really worked on two strike hitting, it showed up today," Carroll said. "And working on keeping the ball on the ground, hopefully to get it through holes."

From there on out, Bautze and BC High starter Dan Cobban dominated the tempo of the game. Cobban avoided any jams until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Shane Sefton started off the inning with a base hit. Bautze bunted to the first base side soon after, and Cobban bobbled the ball before he could get a decent toss over to first.

With runners on first and second and no outs, Fredericks made the decision to pinch-hit Kieran Pathak. The move paid dividends, as Pathak’s sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third.

The next batter, Dylan DeFlorio, was intentionally walked—bringing up Carroll with the bases loaded. Carroll wasted no time, hitting a line drive up the middle on the first pitch he saw to win the game.

“The whole game I was seeing fastballs, so I just wanted to be aggressive at the plate and I didn’t want to get down in the count," Carroll said. "First ball I saw, I took a hack at it, and got up lucky for a single."

Fredericks added, on Carroll’s final at-bat, “That’s our best player, they put our best player at the plate. So if we’re going to beat BC High, it’s going to be with our best player. He gave us the best shot, got into one and got a nice pitch to hit.”

Fredericks admitted he was skeptical on how his team would come to perform, saying he kicked them off the field during pre-game for a lack of effort.

“There are some games we’ve executed and some games we haven’t," he said. "Today we had to kick them off the field. They came with a horrible attitude, a horrible effort [before the game]. On their own, wherever they went for a half an hour, they found it, figured it out, and came and matched BC High,” the coach said after the game."

He also sent out a challenge to his team after the game. A relatively young, but talented squad, Lincoln-Sudbury has taken its’ lumps this year, and Fredericks wants to see a more consistent effort from his squad from here on out.

“We worry about trying to get better, I tell them all the time that it’s not about the result, it’s about trying to get better. We got better today, but, we got better against Westford and then we laid an egg the next day against [Acton-Boxborough],” Fredericks said.

"So we’ll see how we do against Waltham, will we be two steps forward one step back again? Or will we take two more steps?”

SUDBURY, Mass. - For a moment in the early minutes of the second quarter, Lincoln-Sudbury lacrosse fans would have been excused if they suddenly experienced flashbacks to the team's previous meeting against Acton-Boxborough.

On April 4, the Colonials came storming back after L-S had opened up a six-goal advantage, actually taking the lead late before the Warriors rallied to come back for a 12-11 victory.

Saturday, L-S came flying out of the gates once again and built a 6-0 lead with 3:03 left in the first quarter. Thomas Cotter scored twice in a row, followed by a dodge-and-rip by Scott Rogers that cut the deficit to 6-3 with 5:36 left in the second.

This time around, however, there would be no comeback as the second-ranked Warriors reeled off seven of the next eight and went on to finish with a 19-8 victory over No. 5 A-B at Myers field.

"No one was worried," said L-S midfielder Greg Roder, one of three players to score four goals in the game. "We knew what happened last time and how it was a close game and we knew we were going to take it right back from them."

Take it right back L-S (9-0) did, as Henry Guild (four goals, three assists), Jordan Dow (two goals, three assists) and Roder all scored to close out the first half with a 9-3 lead.

Guild and A-B's (10-2) Hunter Arnold traded goals to open the third, then L-S stuck three in a row - two from Roder around one from Dan Delaney (four goals, two assists) - to push the advantage to 13-4.

Cotter completed his hat trick to temporarily stop the bleeding, but the Warriors responded with scores from Dow, Guild and Delaney to push the lead back into double digits (16-5), before both coaches mutually agreed to start emptying the benches.

"I think they are a very good team," L-S coach Brian Vona said of Acton-Boxborough. "I think they are a well coached team but I think our kids were just ready, they were ready for tonight. They’ve been practicing hard. I know its age old stuff, but they’ve been practicing hard, they’re working hard, and they’re playing together."

SUDBURY, Mass. – A 16-3 win by Lincoln-Sudbury boys’ lacrosse over North Andover in the final of Saturday’s Coaches Challenge Cup can only tell you so much about this Warriors team.

The enduring image – outside of the game’s score as the scoreboard hit triple zeroes – came about a half hour following the win. On a nearby practice field, a group of Warriors players were helping to the clear the field for Monday’s practice. Youth soccer games left a set of nets on the field. As part of a challenge issued during Friday’s team practice by head coach Brian Vona, the losers of a drill were going to be forced to perform odd jobs on Saturday, including the clean up of the practice field and clearing the 8-yard by 8-foot frames. The nets dwarfed the team members scurrying underneath them, like a colony of ants moving leaves on the forest floor.

“I feel like we’re building,” Vona said following the team’s Cup win, the progam’s second. “We’re not where we’re going to be in June, not even close. We have a long way to go. We’re slowly improving on some things that, maybe things that you might not see, but we’re improving on things that we had to work on.

“So I feel good, knowing that we’re progressing.”

That progress was set in motion two years ago when the Warriors’ seniors were sophomores. Many of them were pressed into immediate service that season, before they might have otherwise. due to a rash of (at times, freakish) injuries. One player was cut severely on a plate glass window at his church and missed time in 2011.

That chain of events gave a deep and talented class a running start while growing into one of the state’s Division 1 title favorites this season.

“I think a huge part of that is the confidence knowing that we’ve played together … almost all of our starters have played together since sophomore year,” said Henry Guild, a Yale commit who led the Warriors with a hat trick and six points on Saturday. “We’ve played in big games and we have confidence in knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

Vona maintains there’s room for improvement, even with the Warriors’ offense, which operates with the efficiency of a Swiss watch.

But with a slew of high Division 1 recruits on offense, including Dan Delaney, Matt Hall, Chris Giorgio, among others, there’s not much that can slow down L-S.

“When we possess the ball on offense,” Vona said, “we control our destiny.”

The Warriors have also taken care of business in their own end. There’s plenty of talent to be found among L-S’s poles, including Sam Chen, Eamon Hunter and John Sexton. And they’ve been able to keep it out of their own cage.

“The key thing is that we’re talking,” Hunter said. “You hear it on the bench, you hear it on the field. You hear it from Dario [Morando]. When we’re talking, we play more aggressively. We’ve motivated to grab the ball, turn it over to the offense and get them started.”

CONCORD, Mass. –- With seven players finding the back of the net on Wednesday, Lincoln-Sudbury (5-0) showed off one of the most balanced and productive efforts of the young 2013 season as they defeated Dover-Sherborn, 15-4.

No. 2 Lincoln-Sudbury, playing at full strength for one of the first times this season, used a 7-0 second quarter run to pull away from No. 13 D-S (5-1) in the first round of the 2013 Coaches Challenge Cup.

“It was just a team effort today,” L-S head coach Brian Vona said after the game.

L-S was led in scoring on the day by senior attack Jordan Dow, who netted four goals to go with one assist.

“When we get both the midfielders and attack going we can be a tough team to beat,” Dow said.

Middies Dan Delaney, Brendan McCartthy, Harlan Smart, and Henry Guild each scored two goals and Greg Roder added one for the victors.

“It is what we talked about,” Vona said. “We had a couple of kids trying to do it all and we just talked about sharing the ball and we did.”

Two-Way Middie: Fairfield-bound middie Chris Giorgio (2 Goals) scored the games opening goal, eight seconds into the first quarter, on an aggressive dodge off a John Sexton face-off win.

As good as Giorgio looked on the offensive end it was work on the defensive end of the field that drew praise from his head coach.

“He is a very good player,” Vona said. “We did not get him into to many offensive sets today because we had him coming in on the wings so much and I did not want to gas him. He took the ball away from kids with the short stick a few times. The kid has worked really hard for us so I am proud for him.”

Opening Quarter: It may not have been how Vona drew up the start of the game but D-S came out moving and possessing the ball as they lead 2-1 after the first quarter.

“In the first quarter we were just trying to do too much,” Vona said. “Every one person was trying to do it themselves but when we sit back and trust each other and move the ball I think we are a good team.”

D-S, playing without senior attack Brandon Jaeger, who was out with an injury, got a strong opening effort from attackmen Grant Gregory (1G) and Matt Davies (1G, 1A).

From the second quarter on it would be all L-S as they used their depth, balance and strong two-way play to control the game.

“We settled down in the second quarter, got the quality dodges we wanted and executed,” Dow added.

L-S will take-on long-time neighboring rival Concord-Carlisle in the 4 p.m. semifinal game of the Coaches Challenge Cup on Thursday at Andover High School.

North Andover Advances: North Andover had finished in last place (Eighth) during the past two years of the Coaches Challenge Cup. On Wednesday they took a big step toward changing recent history as they defeated Division 2 power Hingham, 7-6, in the day’s closest contest.

After an opening half that saw both teams score only one goal each North Andover coach Ryan Connolly knew that his team had to start taking advantage of opportunities if they were going to prevail.

“We knew they would come around as long as we could start burying our opportunities,” Connolly said. “We were a little stagnant and we did not come out of the gates flying like I was expecting the guys too. Then we really started turning it on.”

Both teams came out of the second half more aggressive as Hingham middie Caleb Broadie (3 G) and North Andover attack Nick Pino (4G) matched each other goal for goal in a battle of two of the top talents in Eastern Massachusetts lacrosse.

Trailing 6-4 with 7:26 remaining in the game North Andover received three unanswered goals from attack Dante Querci (2G) and Pino to give them the final lead of the game.

The North Andover defensive unit of goalie Cosmo Capabianco and defenders Colin Cronin, Tom O’Mara, and Joe Samuelman all played very well down the stretch for NA in the win.

North Andover will take on Wellesley at 2 p.m. in the other semifinal match-up on Thursday at Andover High School.

We updated our statewide MIAA Top 25 baseball poll this afternoon. To view it, CLICK HERE.

The next poll update will be Friday, April 19.

A few notes and observations about this week's poll:

BC High back on top: With its thrilling 2-1 victory over Malden Catholic under the lights Monday, BC High moves into the No. 1 spot for the first time since last season, when they were ranked No. 1 in the preseason. Once again, the Eagles make a clean sweep of the top spots, with St. John's Prep (2) and Malden Catholic (3) sweeping the top three positions. Preseason No. 1 Xaverian, off to a 1-3 start with a brutal schedule, falls back 10 spots to No. 11.

Here come the Raiders: One of the biggest statements of the early season has been Wellesley, which delivered a surprise 13-3 thrashing of Xaverian on April 6. For that, the Raiders make their season debut at No. 10. Overall, the Bay State Conference is off to a terrific start, with Walpole (4) and Newton North (6) also represented in the Top 10.

A few new debuts: Hudson storms into the poll for the first time since last season, at No. 17, following season-opening wins over D1 contenders St. Peter-Marian and Algonquin. The Hawks, along with SWCL mainstays Auburn (8) and Northbridge (20) make it three teams represented in the poll from the competitive Division 2 Central bracket.

Elsewhere, Malden (21), Lincoln-Sudbury (23), Beverly (24) and Barnstable (25) all make season debuts this week.

Here's how the poll breaks down by league affiliation:

Catholic Conference - 4
Bay State - 3
Northeastern - 3
Southern Worcester County - 2
Valley League - 2
Atlantic Coast - 1
Central Mass. Conference - 1
Dual County - 1
Greater Boston - 1
Merrimack Valley - 1
Mid-Wach A - 1
Mid-Wach B - 1
Middlesex - 1
Old Colony - 1
South Coast - 1
Valley Wheel - 1

Defending Division 1 state champion Duxbury opens another season as the No. 1 team in our initial MIAA boys' lacrosse poll Top 25 poll.

The Dragons, despite losing 10 Division 1 recruits off of last year's team, are deep again and looking for their 10th state title in the last 11 years. They will surely face a stiff challenge from Lincoln-Sudbury, which checks in at No. 2, and boasts a host of Division 1 talent in its own right. Last year's Division 1 state runner-up Needham begins the season at No. 3

CROWDED IN D2
Once again, the Division 2 race should be one to watch. Defending state champion Concord-Carlisle gained the highest ranking by a D2 team, peaking at No. 5. But they'll field challenges throughout the year from a bunch of D2 teams huddled in the Top 10. Hingham claims the No. 6 spot, followed by Catholic Memorial (No. 7), Reading (No. 9) and Medfield (No. 10).

The Central Mass competition in the division will also be tightly contested with defending sectional champion Algonquin (No. 16), but look for Grafton to make a push, starting out at No. 18, and No. 23 St. John's (Shrewsbury) is always a force.

There is one lone Division 3 representative in our initial poll, with defending state champion Dover-Sherborn appearing at No. 13.

WESTFORD, Mass. -- Westford Academy's girls' lacrosse strolled about field with the confidence and swagger of a team who had been there before.

Sliding the exact right moment on defense and always finding perfect gaps on offense all well joking comfortably during breaks in play one would never suspect the Grey Ghosts (4-0, 2-0) were grabbing the program's first ever victory against Dual County League (Large) rival and defending division champ Lincoln-Sudbury.

Driven with five goals and an assist from senior Bailey Mongillo, host WA led for all but the first 53 seconds as it cruised to a 14-9 victory over the Warriors (1-2, 1-1).

“We are taught to be the boss,” said Ghosts coach Julie Olivier. “We do not worry about what other teams do and execute our plan. They are confident we know what we are talking about and they listen.”

Junior attack Jenna Klinka added four goals and an assist for the Ghosts, while opponent Eliza Guild netted three goals and assisted a pair.

Westford jumped out to an early 2-0 lead at 23:37 after winning the first two draws. Junior Stacey Shackleton bounced in a free position effort at 24:07, while Mongillo broke in from behind the crease to hook in the second score.

“I just like to draw the defender and can use the crease to my advantage as a barrier,” said Mongillo. “Coach has us work on our bread and butter shots or our strength shots. Every girl on the team has a certain thing they like to do.”

L-S managed to draw within a score four different occasions, but never could pull even.

Guild ripped a free position under the keeper's net then seconds later won and scored off the draw to cut their deficit to 9-8 with 18:12 remaining.

“They were all cutting to the net at once,” said L-S coach Deb DeJesus. “All the defenders come in so we can not get the ball in to who we want to get it to. It is a matter of just getting used to playing with one another.”

Westford outscored the Warriors five to one to finish, including the next four goals.

Shackleton went center net on a free position score to initialize the streak with 15:36 left. Westford junior Cathryn Sennott ducked a defender and hit senior Taylor Freud in motion for the 13-8 advantage at 6:28.

Defensive Prowess: Westford dominated the game despite losing the battle for draws 13 to 11. The difference for the Grey Ghosts was their man-to-man defense and its to ability to effectively collapse both in the open field and off a Warriors free position.

Seven saves from vocal senior keeper Erin Shaughnessey aided the cause.

“We have been preparing for different flavors of games and when to change it up,” said Olivier. “The girls have been working hard on when to put the pressure on and when to pull it back.”

Tough Starts, Different Results: Both teams opened with difficult schedules.

WA began its season by defeating Division 2 favorite Duxbury (2-1) 14-12, while L-S dropped a 9-8 decision to Division 1 South runner-up Needham (3-0) on Saturday.

“A lot of write-ups on teams like Notre Dame (Hingham) and Westwood,” said Olivier. “There is no one here heavy on the radar. I am OK with that.”

“We have the athletic ability to compete with them and it is just a matter of practicing,” added DeJesus.

Attackmen:
Tyler Bogart, Soph., Catholic Memorial
Jordan Dow, Sr., Lincoln-Sudbury
Jay Drapeau, Jr., Westford Academy
Brandon Jaeger, Sr., Dover-Sherborn
C.J. LoConte, Sr., Duxbury
Andrew Melvin, Sr., Medfield
Nick Menzel, Jr., Archbishop Williams
Nico Panepinto, Sr., Needham
Robbie Pisano, Sr., Needham
Tyler Reilly, Sr., Grafton
Andrew Smiley, Jr., St. John’s (Shrewsbury)

Midfielders:
Kevin Bletzer, Jr., Catholic Memorial
Will Blumenberg, Soph., Concord-Carlisle
Caleb Brodie, Jr., Hingham
Alec Brown, Sr., Wakefield
Tucker Ciessau, Sr., Scituate
Dan Delaney, Sr., Lincoln-Sudbury
Henry Guild, Sr., Lincoln-Sudbury
Carson Hart, Sr., Wayland
Davis Kraft, Sr., Algonquin
Matt LaCroix, Sr., Westfield
Drew O’Connell, Jr., St. John’s Prep
Mikey Panepinto, Jr., Needham
Kieran Presley, Sr., Amherst
Bryan Rotartori, Sr., Grafton
Jack Wheeler, Jr., Xaverian

Long-stick Midfielders:
Nick Brozowski, Jr., Concord-Carlisle
Mike Elcock, Jr., Needham
D.J. George, Sr., Arlington Catholic
John Sexton, Jr., Lincoln-Sudbury

Defensemen:
Evan Boynton, Sr., Concord-Carlisle
Tim Gillis, Soph., Cohasset
Brian Uva, Sr., St. John’s Prep
Luc Valenza, Sr., Foxborough
Jay Walsh, Sr., Duxbury
Tyler Weeks, Sr., Andover
Ian Yanulis, Sr., BC High

Goaltender:
Andrew Blood, Jr., Walpole
Matt Comerford, Sr., Reading
Ryan Goodall, Sr., Dover-Sherborn
Nick Marrocco, Jr., Duxbury
Giles Ober, Sr., Algonquin
Jake Reynolds, Jr., Scituate
D.J. Smith, Sr., Billerica
Robert Treiber, Jr., Medfield
Tighe Van Lenten, Sr., Masconomet

BILLERICA, Mass. — Cam Owens sparked a monstrous second period for No. 3 Wilmington as the Wildcats iced No. 2 Lincoln-Sudbury, 6-0, in a Division 2 North semifinal.

Wilmington (19-3-2) was firing on all cylinders during the second period by blasting four goals past Lincoln-Sudbury goalie Erik Kessler (28 saves). Meanwhile, at the other end of the rink, Drew Foley was not tested nearly as much as Kessler, but Foley did his job turning away the 14 shots he faced to earn the shutout.

Wilmington’s Anthony Castellano started the scoring at the 9:40 mark of the first period. Castellano fired a shot through traffic that Kessler never saw.

Owens opened up the second period by rifling a wrist shot past Kessler only 12 seconds into the period. That goal appeared to give Wilmington a big jump in its step.

“I put a little head fake on [the defense] and gave them the little shake and bake,” Owens said. “I went wide with it, and I shot it far side under the goalies blocker. After that, the floodgates just opened.”

Luke Foley, Billy Falter, and Dylan DiNatale played follow the leader behind Owens as they also added second-period goals to blow the game wide open.

In the third, Jake Rogers added the final goal of the game, becoming the sixth different Wildcat to find twine.

“We got a balanced scoring attack tonight, and those are the kind of contributions we need,” Wilmington head coach Steve Scanlon said.

The defending champs face Danvers their next time out for the Division 2 North final.

DANVERS 5, CONCORD-CARLISLE 3
In the earlier game, No. 8 Danvers stayed on a roll by knocking off No. 12 Concord-Carlisle, 5-3.

A.J. Cuoto stayed hot scoring two goals after recording hat tricks in the Falcons (13-6-4) previous two-playoff games.

“A.J. [Couto] has been playing well as we have seen the past few games,” Danvers head coach Kevin Brown said. “He is playing hard and mixing it up, so I am happy with A.J.”

Couto’s line was on fire scoring four-of-the-five goals that the Falcons scored as Rob Buchanan and Joe Strangie both lit the lamp too.

“Sometimes it just clicks at a certain point of the season, and we have made several different line changes throughout the season,” Brown said.

Danvers wasted little time getting on the board as Buchanan scored only 39 seconds into the game. Strangie then followed with a power-play goal by screening the goalie and deflecting the puck past Concord-Carlisle goalie Ranger Beguelin (24 saves).

“We have to set a screen because most goalies will stop the puck if they see it,” Brown said. “We like the guys around the crease, and Joe [Strangie] did a good job there.”

Couto then followed with his own power play goal by connecting with the puck in mid-air to redirect a wide shot into the goal.

“I just saw the shot coming from the point, so I stuck my stick out to try and make contact,” Couto said. “I got my stick on the puck, and it just happened to go into the net.”

Nick McCormack got the Patriots on the board before the period ended by tapping home a rebound late in the first.

Seamus Vahey brought the Patriots within a goal in the second period, but Couto and Adam Merry countered sending Danvers into the third up, 5-2.

In the third, Matt Robinson added a goal for Concord-Carlisle, but Danvers goalie Alex Taylor (16 saves) held the fort down to preserve the win.

BILLERICA, Mass. -– After losing in the first round of the 2012 MIAA state tournament Billerica senior leaders Brittany Lomanno and Danielle Nickerson knew that this year had to be different.

“Having eight returners back this year, we all knew the heartbreak we had when lost to a lower seed in the first round last year,” Nickerson said after the game.

No. 2 Billerica (19-2) took one step closer to their ultimate goal as they defeated a tough No. 15 Lincoln-Sudbury (11-10) team 66-49 on Wednesday night in the First Round of the Division 1 North sectional.

“Every day at practice we are focused,” Lomanno added. “We are keying on our defense, which has been really good for us this year. We made huge stops, got the rebounds, got the ball up in transition and were patient on offense.”

Billerica came out of the gate poised as they executed possessions and moved the ball efficiently to take a 21-10 lead after one quarter of play.

L-S would not back down, however, as they kept the game within reach, trailing 35-30 at the half and narrowing the gap early in the third quarter.

Lomanno would steady the game for Billerica, as they battled through a third quarter rut that saw L-S draw to within two points at 39-37 with 3:15 remaining in the quarter.

“I tried to keep the poised out there tonight and run the offense effectively,” Lomanno said.

Billerica went on an 8-2 run to end the third quarter and lead 47-39 heading to the fourth.

“We needed to be more patient on offense,” Billerica head coach Chris Doneski said. “We are pretty good at running the flex offense and by the third or fourth quarter we start to grind teams down but we have to get there. I talked to them about just being patient and I think we did that.”

The fourth quarter belonged to Billerica, as they outscored L-S 19-10 the final eight minutes of play. Nickerson and Lomanno would both nail shot clock-beating 3-pointers down the stretch to seal the victory and help Billerica advance to the Division 1 North quarterfinals.

Nickerson scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Lomanno added 13 points to go with four assists.

“Brittany really controls the game for us,” Doneski said. “Nellie really does a great job underneath the basket. She is able to step out and hit some shots if she needs to and when we really needed baskets in the game the ball seemed to find her.”

Senior center Joslyn King and senior guard Kayla Leverone also contributed to the strong Billerica defensive effort as both seniors stepped up in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line.

“We knew they were going to be tough,” Doneski said. “They have a lot of girls who are athletic and they were an extremely difficult team to play against.”

Ashley Lutz led L-S on the night as the Lafayette-bound senior scored 14 points, pulled down eight rebounds and blocked two shots.

Billerica will take on No. 7 Masconomet seed, which defeated No. 10 seed Cambridge, 64-62 on Wednesday night. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Billerica Memorial High School.

All-Purpose Effort: Billerica junior guard Shannon Hayes scored 10 of 14 points in the first half and also drew the challenging task of guarding Ashley Lutz.

“Shannon is always a presence out there for us,” Lomanno said of Hayes. “She hit a few shots but was obviously a big defensive presence out their for us tonight.”

The 5-foot-6 Hayes followed the 6-foot-1 Lutz around the court and gave her a different, smaller look on the perimeter and in the post.

Role Players: Billerica’s bench has improved drastically over the course of the season. The trust that Doneski has in them is evident as they gave the team a lift during the middle quarters of the game.

Billerica received strong efforts from sophomore forward Lilly Coppinger, junior forward Alex Napoli, and sophomore guards Caroline Gillis and Lexie Mattar.

“That was our big question this year, our depth,” Nickerson said. “They proved it they we are deep. We have trust in them as they have trust in us.”

Bright Future: Despite losing Ashley Lutz to graduation, L-S returns most of its core unit, led by a strong sophomore class.

L-S returns four of their five starters as sophomore point guard Kristen Ngan (four steals), sophomore center Olivia Canning (five rebounds), junior guard Jody Henkels (six points) and sophomore guard Emma Lutz (12 points) lead a group of 10 returnees next season for head coach Liza Feldman.

For the first time in three weeks, our No. 1 team returns in this week's edition of the MIAA boys' hockey Top 25 poll.

Springfield Cathedral holds on to the top spot after avoiding a third-period comeback from No. 8 Central Catholic on Monday. There was just one change to our Top 5 this week with Austin Prep sliding back into No. 5 after Reading moved to No. 6, following a tie with No. 7 Hingham.

MOVING IN
For the first time since the 2010-11 season, Walpole snags a spot in the 25 this week, checking at No. 24. The Rebels are undefeated in the New Year (3-0-3) and haven't lost since Dec. 28, a loss to No. 22 Coyle-Cassidy. Burlington also returns to the Top 25 this week after a three-week absence. The Red Devils claimed two Top 25 victories last week -- both shutouts -- over No. 13 Winchester (3-0) and No. 18 Barnstable (2-0).

RISING TIDE
Newburyport makes its highest-ever showing in the poll, jumping to No. 16 following a 0-0 tie against No. 11 Beverly. Also hitting the high-water mark this week were No. 20 Duxbury (after a big 4-2 win over a peaking Marshfield squad) and No. 21 Lincoln-Sudbury (momentous DCL/MVC D2 win over Tewksbury).

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. -- Scoring two goals in under a minute is rare enough, but two shorthanded goals? That’s a true rarity.

The planets aligned for No. 23 Lincoln-Sudbury Wednesday afternoon at the New England Sports Center. Buoyed by two shorthanded goals in 52 seconds, the Warriors defeated Tewksbury, 4-2, in a big DCL/MVC Division 2 matchup.

“We’ve scored a good number of shorthanded goals this year,” L-S head coach Peter Elenbaas said. “We’ve got some guys with some speed. They did a terrific job.”

After a tentative first 20-plus minutes by both sides, Warrior senior Jordan Dow broke through on a two-on-one break and slotted the puck home after whiffing on the first attempt. Dow added an empty-net goal in the final minute of the game to seal the victory.

Fellow senior Shane Sefton got in on the man-down fun with a short shot that snuck through Kyle Paquette’s 5-hole to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead and forced the Redmen into damage control.

“We consider our power play to be really good,” Tewksbury head coach Derek Doherty said. “They did a pretty good job. They forced us to create turnovers and we did.”

Sefton added the eventual game-winning goal late in the second when a fluky bounce put the puck on his stick at the top of the crease and he buried it.

The Redman came alive in the third period thanks to an early goal from Shannon Alukonis. Tewksbury continued to buzz around the offensive zone for much of the early part of the third but couldn’t put another past Erik Kessler, who finished the game with 13 saves.

“We didn’t play hard the first two periods, we came to play the third period,” Doherty said. “You need to play three periods to win a hockey game and Lincoln-Sudbury came out and outplayed us the first two periods. That’s where the game was won.”

The Redmen made a final run in the last three minutes. It started, ironically enough, with a shorthanded goal from Ryan Petti who took a pass from his brother Derek and blasted it past Kessler.

Tewksbury pulled Paquette in the final minute the final Redmen attack wasn’t enough.

“The boys have been psyched for this for weeks,” Dow said. “We really had guys step up today. We talked about earning it all week in practice. This is huge.”

UNSURE HOCKEY
Both coaches acknowledged that their teams played tentative hockey for stretches. Elenbaas said that it might have been a case of big-game butterflies.

“I think both teams were looking at this like ‘Whoa this is a huge game. Both of us have big records’,” Elenbaas said. “Everyone looked like they were waiting for the play to come to them.”

For the Redmen, it was only the third time all season they were held under three goals. Doherty was at a loss as to his team’s lack of production.

“We’ve been putting the puck in the net, but tonight I don’t know what it is,” Doherty said. “Maybe it’s playing an afternoon game. Make no excuses L-S is a good team.”

MONDAY REDUX
Neither team will have to wait long for a rematch as the two teams will square off Monday afternoon in Tewksbury. Both coaches said there was much to improve heading into Monday’s matinee.

“We’ve got to play better on the power play, and that’s coaching,” Elenbaas said. “We still have to play better without the puck."

“This time of year you want to start trending up," Doherty added. You don’t want to be leveling off or trending down. I’m sure we’ll have round two on Monday and it’ll be a good one.”

The porposal for an MIAA Division 1A "Elite Eight" baseball tournament for 2014 passed another hurdle this morning, when it passed approval by the MIAA Baseball Committee. In a meeting this morning at MIAA headquarters in Franklin, the committee voted 10-4 in favor of the proposal, sending the proposal to the MIAA's Tournament Management Committee.

Members of the TMC will vote on the proposal on March 11. Should it pass, it will have one final hurdle to go through to become a reality -- the MIAA Board of Directors, which would meet in May.

The format for the proposed "Elite Eight" follows some of the same parallels as the wildly popular Division 1A Tournament in hockey, better known as the "Super Eight". The "Elite Eight" would divide the state's top eight teams, voted on by a 12-person selection committee, in two, four-team, double-elimination brackets, similar to the College World Series. The winners of each bracket would then meet in a best-of-three final at a neutral site.

Lincoln-Sudbury head coach Kirk Fredericks, who initially proposed the idea, finalized his draft last November. We outlined the complete proposal OVER HERE.

So far, the "Elite Eight" idea has been met with little resistance. A year ago, the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association (MBCA) voted 75-1 in favor of the plan. Catholic Memorial Athletic Director Alex Campea, who chairs the MIAA Baseball Committee, has publicly expressed full support of the proposal as well.

The committee voted that games in the "Elite Eight" tournament would be nine innings. Some of the other concerns voiced at this morning's meeting included the spectre of putting parochial schools -- particularly, the Catholic Conference -- on a pedestal, while diminishing the state tournaments for Divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Fredericks' counter to those concerns is just that -- Catholic schools, in this current state of MIAA baseball, are indeed "on a pedestal". Since 1999, a parochial school has won the Division 1 state championship nine times -- eight times by a Catholic Conference school, including Xaverian last spring, and once by St. John's of Shrewsbury in 2002.

"When you have a tournament where there's 11 percent Catholic schools competing, but they've won 64 percent of the time the last 12 years, there's something wrong with that," Fredericks said. "We need something. For me, they're already on a pedestal.

"This is something that's going to take many of the top schools, put them into an 'Elite Eight', and now other schools that have a shot...a Braintree, a Silver Lake, schools just on outside now have chance to sneak in, they have a chance to compete."

As far as the diminished importance of other tournaments, Fredericks thought it was an unfair point.

"When a Division 1 team playing in the finals wins it, they don't sit in the dugout saying 'We won, but we didn't win the Elite Eight," he said. "I think they run out and pig-pile the mound, the parents are gonna be taking pictures. When they take their bus home, the fire trucks and police cars are going to meet them at the town line and escort them home. I think the parents that went to the game, they meet in the parking lot and celebrate, the coaches celebrate.

"I think that happens with any tournament. When we won D2 [in 2005] we did that. We did that in D1 with my two there [2007, 2011]. If we did it in the Elite Eight I would, if we were in D1 I would. I don't see how that diminishes anything."

Overall, Fredericks said, with reportedly decreasing participation rates at the youth level, baseball in Massachusetts "needs a shot in the arm".

"I read [an article] that said participation in youth baseball has dropped seven percent the last five years in Massachusetts," he said. "We need a shot in arm, we need something special, something that creates excitement.

"It’s a two-year pilot, so if ends up being like 1992 when we tried an open [division] tournament in basketball they’ll scrap it. If it's like the 1A tournament in hockey, they’ll take 1A baseball and tweak it every year just like in hockey. Football [the new state tournament alignment], I'm sure they’ll tweak it to make it better. If it doesn't work, we'll go back to something else. I'm real happy the Baseball Committee is giving it a chance. I hope the Tournament Management Committee and Board of Directors try it, I think it would be great."

With Malden Catholic facing its first MIAA defeat in nearly two calendar years last week, we have a new No. 1 atop this week's ESPN Boston MIAA boys' hockey Top 25 poll.

Unbeaten BC High (5-0-2) makes its first-ever appearance in the No. 1 spot. Catholic Memorial, which handed the Lancers their second straight loss on Tuesday evening with a 7-4 thumping, slide into the No. 2 spot and have yet to drop a point against MIAA competition. Springfield Cathedral holds steady in the No. 3 position, while St. John's Prep (which defeated MC on Saturday) reaches its high-water mark on the season at No. 5, followed by Malden Catholic.

(Note: Rankings do not reflect Tuesday's results)

UPHEAVAL ALL AROUND
Aside from the jockeying at the top of the poll this week, we also saw significant movement to the back end. We welcomed five new teams to the poll this week, including three schools which are making their first-ever poll appearance.

The resurgent Arlington program, which boasts an unbeaten record through the season's first month, makes its debut, slipping inside the Top 20 at No. 19.

Lincoln-Sudbury finds its way into the poll for the first time in our history after displacing Franklin with a 3-2 win in a non-league matchup that could be revisited in the Division 2 Eastern Mass. tournament.

Newburyport (4-1-3) found its way back into the poll for the first time since the 2010-11 season after a hot start and some good showings against Div. 1 opponents at the Cape Cod Freeze Out.

Duxbury makes its first foray into the poll at No. 24 this week and Coyle-Cassidy is back in the Top 25 for the first time this season, rounding out the poll this week.

THE DEPARTED
The turbulence during the last week also cost some much-talked-about team their space in the poll. Braintree (4-3-1), who started the season in our Top 10, fell out of the poll this week after hitting some speed bumps, as did Westford Academy (2-4-1), which has spent the greater portion of the last two seasons ensconced in the Top 25.

While most MIAA girls' hockey teams enjoyed the holiday break with some R & R, there was still reason for shakeup in our latest girls' hockey Top 25 poll.

Duxbury remained in the top spot, but there was movement to the Top 10, with Winthrop/Lynn sliding into No. 9 and Reading barging into the poll for the first time ever, making its debut at No. 8.

Here are a couple of thoughts from this week's poll:

(Note: Rankings do not reflect Wednesday night's results)

HELLO, HELLO
Five teams made their season debuts in the poll this week, but a few of those programs are making their first-ever appearances in the poll, a result of some resurgent seasons. For example, Reading, which won all of three games last season, is off to a perfect 5-0-0 start.

Also moving into the poll for the first time this week was Austin Prep (No. 13), Archbishop Williams (17), Lincoln-Sudbury (18) and Winchester (22).

ANOTHER TEST
After watching a No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup Wednesday night between Duxbury and Hingham -- a 4-2 win for the Dragons, behind a marvelous game by Hannah Murphy -- the defending Division 2 state champions not only have had to defend their top-ranking in the poll, they'll also need to prove they're the top team in D2 again, as No. 6 Falmouth -- last year's D2 state runners-up -- pay a visit to The Bog on Saturday (5:30 p.m.).