The quest for a fourth straight title game appearance will begin with the No. 4 seed next to Newburyport’s name.
With the release of the official MIAA girls lacrosse playoff brackets on Friday afternoon, the Clippers (13-5) are once again a championship contender as a top-4 seed in Division 3. They finished the regular season with a power rating of 6.0825, which puts them behind only No. 1 Cohasset (18-2, 10.4789), No. 2 Norwell (14-4, 7.1462) — the two finalists of last year’s Division 4 title game — and No. 3 Nashoba Regional (15-3, 6.3878).
So, with those final ratings, it would appear that Cohasset is a heavy favorite.
… But it’s always foolish to count Newburyport out.
And in speaking to the program’s continued excellence since the MIAA adopted the statewide playoff format ahead of the 2022 spring postseason, here is where the Clippers have been seeded in the Division 3 tournament.
2022: No. 1 (Lost in Elite 8).
2023: No. 1 (State Champions).
2024: No. 2 (Lost in title game).
2025: No. 2 (Lost in title game).
2026: No. 4 (TBD).
The Clippers are just always near the top of the standings.
A “Big 3” of Amelia Price (50g, 44a), Blaire Fox (60g, 26a) and Amanda Linteris (42g, 20a) have handled the bulk of the scoring this year, but the Clippers have also received terrific contributions offensively from freshmen Finley Seymour (11g, 13a), Ella Peddie (12g, 5a) and Morgan Bromby (10g, 6a). Second-year starting goalie Cody Saboliauskas is a seasoned veteran at this point, and has an experienced defense in front of her between senior captains Sonia Tummala, Jade Steinberg and Phoebe Whitcomb.
Newburyport will open its tournament run on Wednesday against the winner of a play-in game between No. 36 Bristol-Plymouth and No. 29 St. John Paul II.
Moving on, our three other local teams all made the Division 4 playoff field.
The highest-ranked among them is Katherine Wisniewski (23g, 14a), Haylie Gagnon (32g, 1a), Liah Bedard (22g, 2a) and Pentucket (4-14), who earned the No. 16 seed and will host No. 17 Stoneham in the first round on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Up next is Claire Lussier (31g, 10a), Olivia O’Leary (27g, 8a), Riley McDonald (12g, 12a) and Triton (3-15), who are the No. 24 seed and will travel to No. 9 Bromfield School on Thursday for a 4 p.m. start. Finally, Katie Davies (38g, 28a), Brylee Hodges (26g, 7a), Lilah Ananian-Randall (15g, 8a) and No. 28 Georgetown (3-15) draw a familiar opponent in the first round with No. 5 Lynnfield on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
The Pioneers won both matchups over the Royals this season by a combined score of 42-12.
Here are the complete brackets that include a local team.
Division 3
Seeding: 1. Cohasset (18-2); 2. Norwell (14-4); 3. Nashoba (15-3); 4. NEWBURYPORT (13-5); 5. Wayland (9-9); 6. St. Mary’s (14-2); 7. Scituate (11-7); 8. Foxborough (13-5); 9. Dover-Sherborn (14-4); 10. Medfield (12-7); 11. Weston (8-10); 12. Falmouth (12-6); 13. Ursuline Academy (11-6); 14. North Reading (11-7); 15. Wakefield Memorial (8-10); 16. Nauset (13-5); 17. Hanover (6-12); 18. Old Rochester (9-8); 19. Swampscott (13-4); 20. Bishop Stang (6-9); 21. North Middlesex (11-5);
22. Hudson (10-5); 23. Apponequet (13-6); 24. Dighton-Rehoboth (10-6); 25. Arlington Catholic (10-7); 26. Pembroke (5-13); 27. Bishop Fenwick (5-13); 28. Essex Tech (9-9); 29. Saint John Paul II (7-12); 30. Wilmington (7-11); 31. Watertown (4-15); 32. Medway (7-10); 33. Amherst-Pelham Reg. (10-7); 34. Tri-County RVT (17-1); 35. Martha’s Vineyard (9-7); 36. Bristol-Plymouth RVT (15-3); 37. Saugus (10-8); 38. Shawsheen Valley (12-6); 39. Belchertown (13-6); 40. Chicopee (10-5); 41. Greater Lowell (11-6); 42. Pittsfield (10-4); 43. Northeast Metro (9-9)
Local First Round Games
Wednesday, May 27th
No. 36 Bristol-Plymouth at No. 29 Saint John Paul II winner at No. 4 Newburyport, 6 p.m.
Division 4
Seeding: 1. Sandwich (15-3); 2. Ipswich (13-3); 3. Hamilton-Wenham (12-2); 4. Nipmuc (13-3); 5. Lynnfield (10-8); 6. Manchester Essex (11-6); 7. Fairhaven (15-3); 8. Nantucket (16-2); 9. Bromfield School (12-4); 10. Hull (12-5); 11. Wahconah Regional (16-2); 12. Seekonk (13-5); 13. Mount Greylock (12-5); 14. Mashpee (12-6); 15. Tyngsborough (11-6); 16. PENTUCKET (4-14); 17. Stoneham (8-10);
18. Rockland (10-7); 19. Lunenburg (10-7); 20. Northbridge (9-5); 21. Dennis-Yarmouth (8-9); 22. Hopedale (14-2); 23. Advanced Math & Science (8-10); 24. TRITON (3-15); 25. Monomoy (2-16); 26. Abington (7-11); 27. Old Colony (13-5); 28. GEORGETOWN (3-15); 29. Winthrop (9-9); 30. Littleton (5-9); 31. Sturgis Charter West (4-10); 32. Bourne (5-13); 33. Nashoba Valley (10-7); 34. Smith Vocational and Ag. (9-5)
Local First Round Games
Wednesday, May 27th
No. 28 Georgetown at No. 5 Lynnfield, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 28th
No. 17 Stoneham at No. 16 Pentucket, 5:30 p.m.
No. 24 Triton at No. 9 Bromfield School, 4 p.m. (at Harvard Park)