Eight Tuesday HS sports takeaways as girls’ lacrosse, tennis playoffs ramp up

On the day Arlington native Miles Robinson, an FC Cincinnati defender, got the call to join the United States men’s national team for the World Cup, four years after missing the 2022 edition due to injury, the first sectional girls’ golf champions were crowned and the MIAA’s girls’ lacrosse tournament ramped up.

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The first top-15 team in the brackets went down Tuesday — No. 14 Mashpee faltering in the first round of the Division 4 girls’ lacrosse bracket — and we also got the first 200-goal scorer in Whitman-Hanson girls’ lacrosse history, a 400th save, a 250th point, and Shawsheen capturing a pair of state vocational crowns.

Tuesday also featured the release of the boys’ volleyball seedings and brackets, as well as boys’ and girls’ rugby, and the North/Central/West girls’ golf championship, won by Hopkinton on the team side and Concord-Carlisle’s Sophie Redmond on the individual side. Baseball, softball, and boys’ lacrosse brackets will be released Wednesday.

As always, find our daily scoreboard here. Looking for a certain game? Try our sport-specific scoreboards: Baseball | Softball | Boys’ lacrosse | Girls’ lacrosse | Boys’ volleyball | Boys’ tennis | Girls’ tennis

Here’s all the dates you need to know for the postseason, including the timing of the final bracket releases on Wednesday.

▪ Whitman-Hanson girls’ lacrosse senior Shannon Balfe became the first player in program history to record 200 career goals when she tallied late in the second quarter of a 16-10 loss to Shepherd Hill in the first round of the Division 2 tournament. Balfe finished the game with seven goals, giving her 220 points (203 goals, 17 assists) for her career.

▪ Bridgewater-Raynham senior Ainsley Yates reached 400 career saves in the final game of her high school career, a 24-1 loss to North Andover in the first round of the Division 1 girls’ lacrosse tournament.

▪ Northbridge senior Elly Schofer reached 250 career points while scored her team’s first goal in a 19-11 loss to Mt. Greylock in the first round of the Division 4 tournament.

▪ North Andover juniors Nicole Daley (five goals) and Sophia Fina (three goals) both eclipsed 100 career goals during a 24-1 Division 1 first-round girls’ lacrosse thrashing of Bridgewater-Raynham. Fina added six assists.

▪ Among her five tallies in a 19-3 girls’ lacrosse win over Monomoy was Nantucket sophomore Louisa Beni’s 100th career goal.

▪ Hull junior Georgia White surpassed 100 points for the season by scoring one and handing out four assists in a 12-11 Division 4 girls’ lacrosse triumph over AMSA.

▪ North Quincy girls’ lacrosse won its first postseason game, 21-12, over Lowell in the Division 1 preliminary round Monday on the back of Ella Lynch’s 12-point day, which featured eight goals and four assists, plus Maddie O’Donnell chipped in with five goals.

▪ Tri-County junior pitcher Neila Schweitzer struck out seven during Monday’s 6-1 softball win over Blue Hills, pushing her past 150 whiffs for her career.

▪ Shawsheen baseball captured its fourth State Vocational Large School championship, 2-1, over Greater Lowell with a sensation performance from Cole Pellegrino, who threw a three-hitter with eight strikeouts to outduel Jayden Faria-Murchie, who also went the distance. Anthony Crowell put Greater Lowell ahead, 1-0, with a solo home run in the second inning, but the Rams responded in the bottom half when Aiden Pimentel singled home Pellegrino. In the sixth, Adam Caruso’s third hit of the day led to a run on Max Snapausky’s single. The Rams have now won three straight titles in even-numbered years (2022, 2024, 2026, as well as one in 2017).

▪ Shawsheen boys’ lacrosse captured its fourth large vocational championship in a row with a 17-2 rout of Tri-County. Jack Martins (four goals), Josh Baker (four goals), and Triston Lane (five assists) paced the offense, as the Rams (18-0) now enter the Division 3 Tournament as the only team without a loss.

Five girls’ lacrosse teams were upset in the first or preliminary rounds Tuesday:

▪ No. 14 Mashpee owns the dubious distinction as the highest seed to lose thus far in the girls’ lacrosse tournament, suffering a 20-8 defeat at the hands of Lunenburg in the first round of the Division 4 bracket. With a combined 18 goals from Maggie van Sickle, Elaina Sokol, and Jillian Dionne, the Blue Knights cruised to the win.

▪ No. 28 Whitman-Hanson suffered a similar fate, although it at least got to enjoy Balfe’s 200th career goal during a 16-10 girls’ lacrosse loss to No. 37 Shepherd Hill in the Division 2 preliminary round.

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▪ No. 36 Peabody made quick work of No. 29 North Attleborough in the Division 2 preliminary round, winning 15-5 behind Leah Bresnahan’s six goals, Eleni Spack’s 12 saves, and Victoria Vaz’s eight points.

▪ The last two upsets in the girls’ lacrosse brackets barely qualified, as No. 33 Marblehead rode six Zoe Dwyer goals to a 15-1 Division 2 girls’ lacrosse win over No. 32 Tantasquam, and No. 33 Amherst Pelham took care of No. 32 Medway, 13-6, with five goals from Tsukiko Bhowmik, in Division 3.

▪ In girls’ tennis action, No. 39 Agawam stunned No. 26 Nashoba, 3-2, in the preliminary round of the Division 2 tournament, with Ryan Haglund cruising at first singles, Charlotte Vincze triumphing at third singles, and Addison Podworski and Victoria Papova clinching victory at first doubles.

Mia Curley and Akira Umbrello, St. John Paul II — Curley, a senior, and Umbrello, a junior, combined for 15 goals, with Curley netting eight and Umbrello going for seven, plus four assists, in a 24-15 Division 3 girls’ lacrosse preliminary-round win over Bristol-Plymouth.

Anna Potter, Natick — The sophomore won 7 draw controls, scored 5 goals, and dished 2 assists as the 16th-seeded Redhawks handled No. 17 Winchester, 17-11, in the Division 1 girls’ lacrosse first round.

Charlotte Taylor, Bourne — Another big sophomore performance, this one resulted in five goals and four assists in the Canalmen’s 20-3 rout of Nashoba Valley Tech in the preliminary round of the Division 4 bracket.

Maggie van Sickle and Elaina Sokol, Lunenburg — Two more sterling sophomore showings belonged to Van Sickle, who not only scored eight goals, but won 17 draw controls during a 20-8 Division 4 romp over Mashpee, and Sokol, who finished with five goals and six assists.

Erin Walsh, Hull — The senior nearly single-handedly delivered a 12-11 Division 4 first-round win over AMSA with eight goals, six draw controls, and four ground balls.

Whitman-Hanson has appointed Savannah DiMambro as its new head cheerleading coach. A former cheerleader at Abington, DiMambro went on to cheer at Southern New Hampshire and has spent 13 year as a competitive cheerleading coach with the Panthers, a program which has captured 14 state championships. Since 2017, she has served as the club’s All-Star coach, earning USASF certification at Levels 1-6. Most recently, she was head coach at A-List Athletics in Weymouth.

▪ On Sunday, Northeastern junior Ryan Gerety, a Franklin graduate, delivered a walkoff single to right field in the ninth to give Northeastern a second straight CAA title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Junior Robbie O’Connor, a Lincoln-Sudbury graduate, started the 3-2 win over Campbell and delivered five strong innings.

▪ Bentley grad student Sam Belliveau, a St. John’s Prep graduate from Wenham, tossed eight innings of two-run ball to send the Falcons’ baseball team to the Division 2 World Series for the first time with a 3-2 victory over Molloy. Belliveau allowed four hits and two walks and struck out eight, giving way to junior Keegan Antelman, an Assabet Valley graduate from Hudson, who earned the win got the side in order in the ninth. Junior Brendan Sencaj, a King Philip graduate, homered in the sixth and junior Jimmy Mitchell, a St. John’s (Shrewsbury) graduate from Southborough, scored Bentley’ second run.

▪ Endicott junior Brenden Walsh, an Austin Prep graduate from Reading, and senior AJ Hamm, a Shrewsbury graduate, both homered as the Gulls advanced to the Division 3 World Series for the fourth straight year with a 12-4 win over Salve Regina. Senior Evan Scully, an AMSA graduate from Maynard, picked up the win, and sophomore Colby Correia, a Fairhaven grad pitched 3⅓ innings in relief.

▪ Endicott senior Brady Stuart, a Hudson graduate, was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association Division 2 All-Region first team alongside Walsh. Walsh and Stuart were both named to the D3Baseball.com All-Region first team as well, while Kyle Grabowski, a Williston Northampton graduate from Westfield, made the third team.

▪ Bates junior Keagan Ryan, a Lawrence Academy graduate from Salem, N.H., was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association Division 3 All-Region third team after going 38 for 38 on stolen bases, the most by any player in the country without getting caught, and finishing second in the NESCAC in on-base percentage at .507.

The 2026 Will McDonough Writing Contest is accepting entries, but Wednesday is the deadline to submit.

This year’s sports writing contest is free to enter and open to any high school student (grades 9-12) in New England. Winning entries will be published by the Globe, and their authors will be honored in June.

All a student needs to do is:

▪ Have an adult (18+) fill out this form

▪ Email their entry to [email protected]

Entries (one per person) will be judged on how well they express and support ideas, opinions, and claims, with sports as a central element. Essays will also be judged on their reporting and proper use of journalism tenets.

Deadline is May 27. For more information, please contact [email protected].

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(Includes Monday’s games)

Mia Curley, St. John Paul II, 8

Ella Lynch, North Quincy, 8

Maggie van Sickle, Lunenburg, 8

Erin Walsh, Hull, 8

Tyler Foley, Watertown, 7

Bridget Hughes, Westwood, 7

Cece Levrault, Apponequet, 7

Gia Papa, Dighton-Rehoboth, 7

Akira Umbrello, St. John Paul II, 7

Clara Blongastainer, Franklin, 6

Millie Brady, Acton-Boxborough, 6

Leah Bresnahan, Peabody, 6

Zoe Dwyer, Marblehead, 6

Emelie Jonsson, Barnstable, 6

Millie McDonald, Winchester, 6

Maura Quirk, Acton-Boxborough, 6

Georgia Barry, Bishop Feehan, 5

Louisa Beni, Nantucket, 5

Tsukiko Bhowmik, Amherst-Pelham, 5

Nicole Daley, North Andover, 5

Jillian Dionne, Lunenberg, 5

Penny Forgery, Lexington, 5

Grace Hanlon, Nantucket, 5

Sophia Kozub, Minnechaug, 5

Maddie O’Donnell, North Quincy, 5

Anna Potter, Natick, 5

Elaina Sokol, Lunenburg, 5

Tessa Stone, Bourne, 5

Anna Taylor, Minnechaug, 5

Charlotte Taylor, Bourne, 5

Sarah Wilson, Central Catholic, 5

Ariana Alvarado, Peabody, 4

Josh Baker, Shawsheen, 4

Evie Bernard, Hamilton-Wenham, 4

Erin Gannon, Westwood, 4

Zoe Gowrie, Malden Catholic, 4

Katelyn Hill, Bourne, 4

Riley Lewis, Apponequet, 4

Jack Martins, Shawsheen, 4

Emma Steiner, Burlington, 4

Caitlin Sugrue, North Andover, 4

Shea Sullivan, Scituate, 4

Victoria Thermidor, Acton-Boxborough, 4

Sophia Fina, North Andover, 6

Elaina Sokol, Lunenburg, 6

Emma Ebert, Wilmington, 5

Tristan Lane, Shawsheen, 5

Victoria Vaz, Peabody, 5

Ella Lynch, North Quincy, 4

Sol Ortiz DeRosa, Lexington, 4

Gia Papa, Dighton-Rehoboth, 4

Grace Schroeder, Nantucket, 4

Charlotte Taylor, Bourne, 4

Akira Umbrello, St. John Paul II, 4

Jane Boardman, Hamilton-Wenham, 3

Emelie Jonsson, Barnstable, 3

Maggie Svencer, Marblehead, 3

Charlotte Wren, Acton-Boxborough, 3

Julia Dunfey, Greater Lowell, 20

Anne Cashman, Central Catholic, 15

Phoebe Braga, Dighton-Rehoboth, 13

Morgan Mueller, Barnstable, 12

Eleni Spack, Peabody, 12

Caroline Appel, Newton North, 10

Nevin Mustone, Malden Catholic, 10

Eden Polak, Amherst-Pelham, 9

Makaylan Maguire, Wilmington, 8

Mia Lowden, Bourne, 7

Ashley Smith, Apponequet, 7

Taylor Farrell, North Andover, 6

Sophia Freeman, Lexington, 6

Cam Martinez, Bishop Fenwick, 6