MIAA boys' lacrosse tournament: Favorites, sleepers, players to watch, Divisions 1-4
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Here is a deeper dive on all four brackets:
Division 1
Favorite:
No. 2 St. John's Prep.
Sleepers:
No. 8 Bishop Feehan, No. 9 Xaverian
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Players to watch:
attack Nick Emsing (BC High), long-stick midfielder Flynn Baker (Franklin), midfielder Cooper Masso (Bishop Feehan), attack Ryan Martin (Winchester), long pole Jack Weissenburger (St. John's Prep).
Best first-round matchup:
Monday, No. 19 Newton North (10-8) at No. 14 Natick (13-5), 7 p.m.
Longest first-round road trip:
Saturday,
No. 25 Barnstable at No. 8 Bishop Feehan — 69.5 miles.
Analysis:
While St. John's Prep is not the top seed, the defending champions will still have home field advantage until the tournament moves to predetermined sites in the state semifinals. BC High arguably draws a tougher side of the bracket with capable sleepers Bishop Feehan and Xaverian vying for a state quarterfinals bid against the top seed. Prep returned 22 seniors from last year's state title team and boasts a nearly impenetrable defense to go along with another faceoff specialist (junior Will Crawford) who is among the best in the region. After Needham made a run to the state finals last year, Lincoln-Sudbury, Andover, and Acton-Boxborough stand out as the public schools capable of crashing the party with a deep tournament run. The last public school to win the title in 2019, L-S went 12-4 against the hardest schedule in the state this season per the MIAA power rankings. New head coach Chris Baker leads Franklin in the tournament for the first time, Jon Smith makes his state tournament debut as Concord-Carlisle coach, and Adam Pascal is steering the ship at Catholic Memorial after helping Belmont Hill win the ISL last spring. George Jenkins, the new head coach at Newton North, spent nine years coaching at Natick, and those Bay State rivals face off in the first round.
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Division 2
Favorites:
No. 1 Billerica, No. 2 Longmeadow
Sleepers:
No. 6 Reading, No. 10 Westwood
Players to watch:
midfielder Charlie Carroll (Marshfield), attack Tommy Farrell (North Andover), midfielder Brayden Mattera (Walpole), attack Cole Hogencamp (Mansfield), long-stick midfielder Aedan Milligan (Hingham).
Best first-round matchup:
Sunday, No. 26 Masconomet (13-5) at No. 7 Marshfield (12-5), 4 p.m.
Longest first-round road trip:
Monday,
No. 18 West Springfield at No. 15 Plymouth South — 131 miles.
Analysis:
This division is sure to present fascinating matchups
in June with at least eight teams clearly capable of navigating a minefield for a state title. Billerica enters the fray on a 17-game win streak, Longmeadow has won two of the past three titles, Reading has won two of the past five titles, Hingham has been a powerhouse in D1 and D2 depending on alignment, Duxbury is looking to get back to the mountaintop after losing in the state final two years ago, Mansfield's star-studded young roster is taking the program to new heights, Walpole's offense is explosive, and Marshfield has a strong core led by senior Charlie Carroll and junior Jon Sullivan.
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Beyond those top eight seeds, No. 9 King Philip managed to defeat Franklin in May for the first time in nine years, and No. 12 North Andover boasts a dangerous offense. Westwood hosts Tri-Valley League rival Hopkinton in the first round a couple weeks after winning that matchup, 11-8. Coming off the program's first Northeastern Conference title, Masconomet is much better than your typical No. 26 seed, and the depth of contenders in this bracket continues down the line with No. 17 Silver Lake, No. 21 Grafton, and No. 33 Whittier capable of surprising foes.
Division 3
Favorite:
No. 1 Medfield
Sleepers:
No. 6 Newburyport, No. 8 Wakefield
Players to watch:
goalie Zach Coelho (Nauset),
long-stick
midfielder Ben Lusby (Medfield), midfielder Willy Robinson (Scituate), attack Carter Scott (Newburyport), midfielder Travis Smith (Falmouth).
Best first-round matchup:
No. 22 Apponequet (14-3) at No. 11 Shawsheen (17-1), TBA
Longest road trip:
Friday,
No. 21 Bishop Stang at No. 12 Dover-Sherborn — 58.3 miles.
Analysis:
Medfield
has taken down some of the top D1 and D2 programs in the state and lost close ones late to Longmeadow and Reading. That sets the stage to focus on winning a second straight title and the program's ninth championship over the past two decades. Most of their challengers come from the south, with No. 5 Scituate, and No. 2 Nauset and No. 3 Falmouth bringing back key pieces from their final four teams. Newburyport is loaded offensively and getting healthy at the right time. Wakefield is a strong program from the Middlesex League and No. 10 Burlington surged after rough first half of the season. Dover-Sherborn looks to make a run under new head coach Dan Morris and No. 18 Bedford can lean on the postseason experience of longtime Concord-Carlisle coach Tom Dalicandro, now an assistant under first-year coach Brad Sylvester. By sheer coincidence, Shawsheen hosts Apponequet in a great first-round rematch after Apponequet took down the visiting Rams, 13-11, in a first-round matchup last spring.
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Division 4
Favorites:
No. 1 Cohasset, No. 3 Norwell
Sleepers:
No. 9 Lynnfield, No. 11 Abington
Players to watch:
midfielder Kelan Cardinal (Lynnfield),
attack Liam Keaney (Swampscott),
attack Quinn Gary (Weston), midfielder Jack McCavanagh (Manchester Essex), attack Finn Wright (Ipswich).
Best first-round matchup:
Friday, No. 23 South Shore Vo-Tech (16-2) at No. 10 Pentucket (12-6), 4:30 p.m.
Longest road trip:
Saturday,
No. 29 Lenox Memorial at No. 4 Nantucket — 219 miles.
Analysis:
Shane Mulcahy netted the overtime winner in Cohasset's 12-11 victory
over Norwell May 19 in a South Shore League clash that could have been a state final preview. Both programs won titles in 2023, as Norwell clinched a second straight D3 championship before shifting down to D4 in 2024. A few Cape Ann League programs are capable of breaking up the South Shore showdown with No. 5 Ipswich, No. 7 Manchester Essex, and No. 9 Lynnfield boasting impressive resumes. Don't leave out No. 2 Weston, which closed the season with impressive wins over Masconomet, Concord-Carlisle, and Manchester Essex. Plus there is defending champion and fourth-seeded Nantucket, which closed last season on an 18-game win streak. Down the table, No. 15 Swampscott and No. 16 Winthrop have been battle-tested against bigger programs in the Northeastern Conference, and No. 23 South Shore Vo-Tech is undefeated aside from two close nonleague losses to No. 11 Abington.
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Nate Weitzer can be reached at
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