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BILLERICA — Five days removed from upsetting the defending Division 1 state champion Acton-Boxboro, Andover boys lacrosse knew it would need an equally spotless effort against No. 2 seed Billerica. “Beating Acton-Boxboro was pretty special,” said Golden Warriors head coach Wayne Puglisi. “We knew we would have to duplicate that effort to have a chance in this one. But we just couldn’t do it.” No. 6 seed Andover fell behind by five goals in the first period and could not recover, falling to Billerica 14-5 in the Division 1 North semifinals on Tuesday night. The Indians move on to face No. 1 seed Lincoln-Sudbury in the North final on Saturday. “There just wasn’t much we could do against them,” said Puglisi. “Billerica played a tremendous game. That was just a heck of a performance by them. We did our best but it wasn’t enough.” Billerica raced out to a 7-1 lead early in the second period before Andover’s Michael Biddle tallied his second goal of the game and Jake Lakos netted a goal to make 7-3 going into halftime. Biddle scored another goal late in the third to make it 8-4, but that was as close as the Golden Warriors would get. The Indians closed out the victory with a six-goal surge in the fourth quarter. “That’s a great Billerica team,” said Puglisi. “One more win would have been nice. This was tough.” Andover applied plenty of pressure to the Billerica defense in the second and third, but Indians goalie Tyler Canto refused to relent. The UMass Lowell-bound junior made 12 huge saves, robbing a few Warriors of chances point-blank. “Tyler played an excellent game,” said Billerica head coach Craig Flynn. “That’s a tough Andover team with a lot of talent. He stood in there and made some huge saves.” Following the contest, Puglisi fought back emotions as he said goodbye to his seniors. “This was an amazing group that sacrificed a lot,” he said. “The big two, Chris Tully and Brian Duffy. Brendan Slattery stepped up to play a huge role on defense. My three attackmen, Jake (Lakos), George (Cardillo) and Johnny (Croston). Guys like Matt Naussbaum and Zach Walker and Steven Herman in goal. They played a lot of lacrosse for us and did a lot of great things.”

No. 6 Andover stunned defending EMass./state champ Acton-Boxboro 9-7 in the D1 North quarterfinals. No. 3 A-B had beaten Andover 10-3 in the season opener and eliminated AHS last spring 11-4 in the North semis. It was 7-1 at the half and A-B never truly got back in it. Of the early-season loss, Golden Warrior coach Wayne Puglisi said, "We had some young players in important roles." Young players like sophomore middies Mike Biddle and Tom Rockwell (12 of 19 on face-offs) came of age. "They really stood out," said Puglisi. Jake Lakos had four goals and two assists and Stephen Herman (11 saves) was brilliant with help from defenders Brian Duffy, Chris Tully and Brendan Slattery. 

In a 17-3 Division 1 North first-round blowout win over Medford, Andover's Jake Lakos had four goals, Mike Biddle added three while Andy Soucy, Matt Nussbaum and John Croston netted two apiece.

Steven Herman came up huge in net for Andover, making five saves in the closing moments to preserve the tie, and George Cardillo scored the winner with 2:50 to go as the Golden Warriors edged Central Catholic 8-7.

Tom Rockwell had 15 faceoff wins and George Cardillo and Brendan Croston each had three goals as Andover rolled over Chelmsford 14-2.

Mike Biddle and Jake Lakos scored three goals each to lift Andover past Central Catholic 13-10.

Jake Lakos (4 goals) and George Cardillo (3 goals) led the Andover attack, which included 10 different goal scorers. The Golden Warriors won 13-3 over Haverhill in boys lacrosse. 

Jake Lakos scored three goals including the game-winner with 52 seconds left in Andover's 5-4 win over Chelmsford. George Cardillo assisted on the game-winner.