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| Senior attackman James Bowler and his Worcester teammates are gearing up for their second ever playoff appearance. |
We may not know how they'll be seeded, but we now know every Central Mass lacrosse team that will participate in the MIAA state tournament. Let's take a quick look at the three different districts CMass teams will be participating in.
Division 2 Central/West
Qualified Teams: Algonquin (12-5), Leominster (9-9), Marlboro (14-3), Shrewsbury (15-5), St. John's (13-5), Tantasqua (14-2), Westboro (11-4), Worcester (12-6)
This district looks like it could be a meat grinder, as the top of CMass has beaten up on itself, and Western Mass powers Longmeadow and Westfield look very strong this season. Expect Longmeadow to take the top seed, with Westfield checking in at No. 2, then a cluster of Algonquin, Shrewsbury and St. John's (in some order) filling out the top of the bracket.
With a strong collective year from Central Mass, and a pair of potential juggernauts from Western Mass, whichever team emerges from this district will definitely be battle tested.
Division 3 Central/West
Qualified Teams: Assabet (16-0), Blackstone Valley Tech (8-8), Grafton (12-6), Northbridge (10-8), St. Bernard's (12-7)
Grafton is always dangerous, St. B's can score with the best of them, and Northbridge has flown under the radar for too long. Add in a pair of Voke schools capable of upsets, including undefeated Assabet, and this bracket is also pretty stacked for Central Mass.
But Western Mass throws in reigning district champion Mt. Greylock, a team that again enters the bracket as the likely top seed and consensus favorite. Can anybody from Central Mass take the Mounties down?
Division 3 Central East
Qualified Teams: Bromfield (9-9), Groton-Dunstable (10-8), Littleton (9-6), Oakmont (9-7), Tyngsboro (17-1)
Bromfield qualified for the tournament Tuesday with a win over Fitchburg, while Tyngsboro scored a massive win for its postseason resume against rival Groton-Dunstable. Expect the Tigers to be near the top of the bracket, but Eastern Mass power Dover-Sherborn came within a goal of a state championship last year, and the Raiders will be a heavy favorite in the bracket this year.
CMass has a few teams that could make a run though, starting with Tyngsboro and G-D, but Littleton has the firepower to pull off an upset or two, and Oakmont has taken a big step back in the right direction after two down years.
7 comments :
Joe, who do u think is the best team not in playoff
I know I am not Joe, but both Nashoba and Wachusett would be playoff teams in any other league in Central Mass and IMHO are batter than many of the teams that made it in.
Either way, good luck to all that made it and I hope to see them and others in the run next year.
Yeah, hard to argue with those two. Wachusett has wins over tournament teams Leominster and St. Bernard's, while Nashoba picked up the biggest upset in the region this year against Algonquin. Mid-Wach A was brutal this year, and each of them still came up just one win shy of the tournament.
Nashoba also beat GD in overtime and Wach lost to GD by 1. So true about the Mid Wach A
The Mid-Wach A is the toughest division in the area and it produces great lacrosse games every week. Nashoba did score a double OT win against G-D early in the season and Wachusett played G-D down to the wire in both games, it easily could have gone the other way for them... Tyngsboro will see how good they really are against other playoff teams....
Tyngsboeo has 9 wins against playoff teams. I'm sure the record would be less in A, no doubt, but they've seen playoff teams.
Tyngs is a truely solid team. Yes, if they played in A they would not be 17 and 1, but they would not too bad off even though their numbers make them truly a D3 size school while most of the A league are EMass D1 size schools. They would still be a playoff team IMHO and have as good as chance as any to make some noise in the Central East Bracket
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