Girls, boys lacrosse pairings released

The St. Mary’s girls lacrosse team has been on the comeback trail for a couple of years now and the plan seems to be working.Under second-year coach Al Eaton, the Spartans finished 10-10 and will be playing Manchester-Essex Tuesday in the first round of the North Division 2 tournament. The game is at Manchester-Essex (3:30).”I don’t have any background on them,” Eaton said. “We’re going in and just hoping to play the best game we can.”The Spartans went down to wire when it came to qualifying. They needed to win their final two games (both on the same day) and they got the job done. Last year, in his first year at the helm, Eaton’s team finished 6-12 after having won only three games the year before.”We’re really excited to be in the tournament,” Eaton said. “It’s been our goal all season.”The Spartans, who have three juniors and three seniors, have been counting on their younger players to shoulder a lot of the load and the underclassmen have risen to the challenge.”We’re building at the lower levels,” Eaton said. “We’re a young program. I’m lucky. I’ve been blessed with a lot of really great girls. Hopefully we’ll get the program back to where we were.”Several other local girls teams have qualified for the tournament. Marblehead, under coach Annie Pugh, is the No. 5 seed with a 12-7 record. The Magicians will play Lynnfield (9-8-1) Tuesday at Marblehead (3:30).The Bishop Fenwick girls are regulars in the tournament and this year is no exception. The Crusaders (11-7) are the No. 8 seed. They’ll play the No. 9 seed, Hamilton-Wenham (8-8) Tuesday at Fenwick (4). Danvers, Beverly and Salem will also be playing in the North Division 1 tournament.In boys lacrosse, the Swampscott High boys lacrosse team will be looking to make some noise in the Division 3 North Tournament. The Big Blue finished 13-4 and will play the winner of North Shore Tech/Mystic Valley on Saturday, May 31, at 2 p.m. at Swampscott.In Division 2 North, Marblehead is home Saturday, May 31, against Winchester in a quarterfinal round. The Magicians finished 11-7. In Division 1, St. John’s Prep is seeded eighth with an 8-10 record. The Eagles will play No. 5 seed Lexington in a first round game Wednesday at St. John’s Prep.Revere, under coach Mike Guanci, is the No. 15 seed in Division 1. Guanci, who teaches at Lynn English and was an assistant with the Lynn lacrosse program before taking the Revere job, will travel to Westford Tuesday for a 5 p.m. first round game.