FILE PHOTO
Dante Maribito and the No. 9 Spartans will face No. 8 Swampscott on Wednesday in the first round.
By MIKE ALONGI
The seedings and brackets for the MIAA boys and girls lacrosse state tournaments were released on Friday, and several local teams earned spots in the field across all divisions. On the boys side, 10 local teams made their way into the tournament, while nine teams got in on the girls side.
Division 3 North is where the bulk of the local teams reside in the boys tournament, with five teams earning a bid. Swampscott earned a No. 8 seed after finishing the year at 13-7, while St. Mary’s (11-9) came in at No. 9 and Bishop Fenwick (10-10) slotted in at No. 10. Rounding out the bottom portion of the bracket in Div. 3 North is Winthrop at No. 13 (10-8) and Saugus at No. 14 (10-10).
This sets up some interesting first-round matchups in Div. 3 North, including a St. Mary’s-Swampscott matchup on Wednesday. The winner of that match will move on to face No. 1-seed Hamilton-Wenham (15-1). Other matchups in the first round will be Winthrop at No. 4 Triton, Fenwick at No. 7 Newburyport and Saugus at No. 3 Austin Prep, all of which will take place on Tuesday.
Division 2 North, the smallest of the three boys divisions, has one of the most evenly matched fields on the boys side, as only two teams have more than 12 wins on the season. Beverly earned a No. 3 seed after finishing 10-9 through a bruising schedule, while Marblehead (10-8) earned the No. 7 seed, Malden Catholic (8-10) earned the No. 8 seed and Danvers (11-7) earned the No. 9 seed.
Due to the small size of the field, there are only two first-round games in Div. 2 North. Danvers and Malden Catholic will battle it out on Wednesday afternoon to see who has the pleasure of facing undefeated No. 1-seed Wakefield (18-0), while the Magicians will host Northeast Tech at Piper Field to decide who will face No. 2 Winchester (12-6). Beverly, who is moving straight into the quarterfinals as the No. 3 seed, will wait until next Saturday to host No. 6 Shawsheen (15-5).
The Revere Patriots are the lone local representative in Division 1 North, earning a fairly pedestrian No. 6 seed despite finishing with a 17-2 record. This means that despite winning more games than any other team in their bracket this season, the Patriots will have to host a first-round game against No. 11 Central Catholic (10-8) on Wednesday. If they can win that game, the Patriots will move on to face No. 3 Acton-Boxborough (14-4) in the quarterfinals next Saturday.
On the girls side, Division 2 North boasts six local teams led by No. 2-seed Marblehead (16-2). Also earning seeds in Div. 2 North were Bishop Fenwick at No. 6 (11-7), Swampscott at No. 7 (15-2), Lynnfield at No. 8 (13-5), St. Mary’s at No. 9 (13-5) and Gloucester at No. 16 (9-6).
Gloucester will take on No. 17 Mystic Valley (10-12) in the preliminary round on Monday, which will decide who gets to face No. 1 Newburyport (16-0). Swampscott will also play on Monday in a first-round game against No. 10 Essex Tech (14-4), while Fenwick will take on No. 11 Shawsheen Tech (9-6) on Tuesday. Wednesday will feature Lynnfield hosting St. Mary’s in the afternoon and Marblehead hosting No. 15 Melrose (8-8) in the evening.