Articles

Boston.Com Article - April 18th 2007

BEVERLY -- The Billerica boys' lacrosse team entered Wednesday's tilt with Beverly having beaten opponents by an average of 9.2 goals per game this season. And while lopsided victories can be one sign of a strong team, the Indians gained a lot more confidence from a nail-biter.

Trailing by a goal entering the fourth quarter, junior Lanny Ellis and sophomore Greg Melaugh combined for five scores in the final frame to lift third-ranked Billerica past seventh-ranked Beverly, 10-7, at rain-soaked Endicott College.

Ellis finished with five goals, all of which were unassisted as the talented midfielder created opportunities with his speed and athleticism. He and Melaugh scored goals 36 seconds apart in the final frame as the Indians broke a 6-6 tie and pulled away with just over six minutes to go.

"I think being down the whole game really surprised us," said Ellis, who scored two goals in the first half as the teams entered the intermission knotted at 2. "We work hard and we pride ourselves on having heart. I think our guts and determination showed out there in the second half. We were able to come out and turn it around.

"It's good because now that's even more confidence we have. It makes you feel better all around. We still have to go into every game like we're 0-0 and playing our last game."

Melaugh scored just over two minutes into the second half to give his team the lead, but the Indians watched Beverly's Alex Boches score three times in a 2:38 span to put the Panthers on top, 5-3, with 6:20 to play in the third quarter.

Billerica was losing face-offs and sloppily turning the ball over after big defensive stands. The Indians regained their focus late in the third frame and took control.

Senior captain Keith Merluzzo scored with 4.2 seconds remaining in the third stanza to pull his team within a goal. Back-to-back tallies by Steve Murray and Ellis early in the final frame put Billerica out front, 6-5, before Pat Bailey evened the game with 7:14 remaining.

Ellis sandwiched tallies around a pair of Melaugh goals as Billerica scored four consecutive times to pull away. Beverly added a late goal, but never threatened to come back.

"The big difference in the fourth quarter was that we were getting ground balls," said Billerica coach Chris Burns. "All game long they were definitely beating us to those and we certainly didn't have ball much in third quarter. We have a pretty strong offense, one that will finish pretty often, so getting possession was a big key."

Especially with a talent like Ellis.

"He's so unselfish though, too," said Burns. "He reconginzes that if a team is shutting him off, he'll set picks and free up our other guys. But when the ball gets in his hands, he knows to look for his shot."

Senior midfielder Gary McKay did a fantastic job winning face-offs over the final 12 minutes to prevent Beverly from ever regaining the lead.

Billerica (6-0) meets undefeated North Andover on Friday. Beverly (5-1) should receive another good test against once-beaten Peabody the same day.

Boston Globe Northwest Section April 19th, 2007

Goal-oriented

Billerica sets its sights on Division 1 title

By Mike Lipka, Globe Correspondent | April 19, 2007

BILLERICA -- Last Friday, in a stiff wind and temperatures in the low 40s, Billerica senior lacrosse defenseman Eric Blais was practicing in his shoulder pads and a mesh tank top, both of which did almost nothing to shield his torso from the elements.

But then again, after the previous night's game, Blais was well-seasoned for a second winter. A freezing rain didn't stop the Indians from traveling to face perennial non league rival Lincoln-Sudbury, and though Billerica hadn't beaten the Warriors since 2001 -- when the Indians last won the state title -- Blais and his buddies outlasted Globe No. 2 L-S and the cold for an 11-9 victory. " I think it really put us up there, " Blais said. "Everyone's starting to notice we have a really good team."

This year's version of the Indians, which could be the area's best team this season, is not about one player.

Billerica returns almost the entire team from last year's run to the Division 1 state quarterfinals, including five senior captains who've set a tone for the rest of the team.

The whole package has Billerica -- the Globe's No. 3 team in the preseason -- believing this could be the year the program jumps to a new level, regaining the form it displayed early this decade, when the Indians went all the way under coach Craig Flynn, with current coach Chris Burns (a 1994 Billerica grad) an assistant.

Billerica has always been something of a lacrosse town, since then-coach Steve Connolly started the program as a club team in 1974. Connolly led the Indians for eight seasons before leaving to start the program at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, then came back for eight more, building the foundation for success in the new millennium before moving on to coach his son, Jim, (now at UMass-Amherst) at North Andover.

Though the Billerica Youth Lacrosse Association, which formed in 1990, still has only about 125 boys' players (compared with 1,500 in Billerica Little League), the town has played the sport far longer than any of its Merrimack Valley Conference rivals, and has sent players to 34 collegiate programs. "For the guys who play lacrosse, it's basically their life," said senior captain Steve Murray. This season, Billerica is the odds-on favorite in the three-team MVC Large. The Indians already bounced league rival Chelmsford, 12-2. At 4-0 entering this week, Billerica also had earned decisive wins over Dracut (16-1) and Central Catholic (13-1).

The key win, however, was against Lincoln-Sudbury, which Billerica has played every year since the team was formed (the two were league rivals before the conference began lacrosse). "The past four years, they've always beaten us, which is tough," senior captain Keith Merluzzo said. "This year, we just shut them down."

The formula isn't unique, but it takes a certain group to buy into it. "We just really made it clear this year that everyone's going to be committed and everyone's just going to have a lot of heart," senior captain Lanny Ellis said. "We're a lot more goal-oriented this year."

That was apparent even at practice last Friday, as Burns spoke and the team practiced behind him. Each day, practice starts with 15 minutes of coach-free time, when players work on whatever skills they deem necessary. But the drills were perfectly organized, with small groups of players working together at a number of nets.

It translates into a well-oiled machine on the field: Ellis (15 goals through four games) is a jack-of-all-trades; Merluzzo (10 goals, 13 assists, 20 ground balls) is the "quarterback," according to Burns; Murray (15 ground balls) mans the midfield; and Blais (32 ground balls, 12 takeaways) and senior captain Mike Shaw (15 ground balls, 7 takeaways) lock down the defensive end. Junior goalie Pat O'Loughlin has served as a solid last line of defense in his first year as a starter.

As a result, you can guess the Indians are aiming high. Each year since 2001, the team has failed to get past the state quarterfinals, finishing with around 16 wins and six losses each time. "I think we can really break past that and go further this year," Shaw said. "We want to take it to the next level."

Mike Lipka can be reached at mlipka@globe.com.

Buzzer Beaters

By Chris Forsberg, Boston.com Staff

No. 4 Billerica 9,
No. 13 Andover 8

NORTH ANDOVER -- Lanny Ellis already had his mind in overtime. His thoughts cycling back to April 26, when Andover invaded Billerica and handed the Indians their lone loss of the season with a 13-12 overtime triumph.

But there was the ball and space. Even then Ellis didn't quite believe there was enough time to do anything. But he locked eyes with sophomore Greg Melaugh, who was sneaking towards the right post, and overtime was suddenly the furthest thing from Ellis' mind.

Melaugh took a perfect 20-yard feed and quickly bounced one past Andover netminder Dan Powers with 1.3 seconds remaining as Billerica scored twice in the final 10.2 seconds for a thrilling 9-8 triumph at Merimack College.

With the win, Billerica extracted its revenge and secured the Merrimack Valley Conference title.

"I totally thought we were going to OT, but the ball came to me and I sort of saw the defense collapse," said Ellis. "It's so sweet, I can't even explain it. It just opened up right there. Everything parted and (Melaugh) was wide open. I knew he'd put it in if I got it there.

"I knew we'd play until the end, but I thought for sure we were going to overtime. I honestly didn't think we could get two goals that fast, especially off a face-off."

But that's exactly what happened. Trailing by a goal after Andover's Peter Hanson sent a bouncer past Billerica netminder Pat O'Loughlin with 2:17 to play, time seemed to against the Indians. A failed scoring chance gave Andover the ball back with 1:26 to play, but a tireless Indians defense managed to wrestle the ball away.

The Indians called timeout with 19.5 seconds to play trying to set up a potential tying goal. Junior Jeff Scarfo circled 15 yards from the cage before accelerating past his defender and chucking a shot inside the left post to even the game with 10.2 seconds remaining.

Ellis joined just about everyone else in attendance in bracing themselves for another overtime battle between these two schools. But face-off man Gary McKay pulled the draw back towards him and managed to scoop up the loose ball as two defenders pursued. Falling back, McKay lofted the ball to Ellis, who quickly drew the attention of three defenders.

Melaugh crept in behind a defender and hauled in what turned out to be a fortuitously high feed from Ellis. Melaugh quickly slammed down with a bouncer that skipped into the net with little more than a tick to go.

"I saw Lanny get the ball and he looked up and pretty much looked me right in the eys," said Melaugh. "I knew he was going to throw me the ball and I just thought, 'Oh, yeah.'"

Andover was left saying, "Oh, no." Despite leading by two goals on two occasions in the final stanza (5-3 and 7-5), the Warriors simply couldn't hold on.

"I thought we played as hard as we possibly could, but who thought they could score two goals in 10 seconds," said Andover coach Wayne Puglisi. "One of our goals was to keep the game close. We did that. We stretched our lead out to two goals, but they came back twice. They kept their composure and, to me, that's the sign of a championship team."

Billerica's Steve Murray scored the game's first goal, but Andover didn't trail again until the final second. Brendan Hughes (4 goals) scored twice in the opening frame to stake the Warriors to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 3-2 lead at the intermission.

The teams traded goals in the third, but Hughes struck again at 11:33 of the fourth quarter to put his team up two. Even after Billerica roared back to tie the game, Hughes and Justin Malins scored goals 48 seconds apart to push the lead to 7-5 with 5:42 remaining.

Unfazed, Billerica watched Ellis and Melaugh score 1:07 apart to tie the game once again and put into motion the unbelievable finish.

"Any time you can win a game when you're trailing in the final 19 seconds, it does a lot for your confidence," said Billerica coach Chris Burns. "That's a great team we beat. I'm real proud of the way my guys battled until the end."

Any interest in a rubber game, coaches?

"No way," Burns said with a laugh. "I'd prefer to never see them again. Both teams know each other inside and out. Wayne and I could probably coach each other's practices."