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North Reading blasted St. Mary's in the Division 3 North quarterfinals 25-9, 25-12, 25-15. Kirsten Morrison (9) and Elizabeth Sutera (7) combined for 16 kills for the defending state champions. Alison Friberg chipped in with 20 assists and 22 service points.

LOWELL | When you go deeper into the state tournament and the margin of error shrinks, it's the little things that count.

The St. Mary's of Lynn softball team was more effective than Ipswich High in executing the little things yesterday and the result was a 1-0 Spartans win in the Division 3 North semifinals at Martin Field.

In yesterday's Division 3 North preliminary-round game, Rockport and St. Mary's of Lynn seemed to be mirror images of each other.

Unfortunately for the 15th-seeded Vikings, one team's season had to end and it was the host that fell, 6-5, in eight innings. No. 18 St. Mary's will face No. 2 seed O'Bryant tomorrow.

Beverly baseball coach Dave Wilbur was counting on a pair of his senior pitchers to get the Panthers off on the right foot yesterday afternoon. He had no idea, however, that Jack Leathersich and Nick Colanto would completely shut down St. Mary's of Lynn in the season opener.

LYNN | It's a moment Ipswich sophomore forward Aaron Jessen will never forget. It's also a moment that Tigers' basketball coach Doug Woodworth hopes his team can move on from as quickly as possible.

Ipswich let a 10-point lead melt away in the fourth quarter, then won in dramatic fashion when Jessen's 18-foot jump shot dropped with two seconds remaining for a 69-68 victory over St. Mary's in a Division 4 North first round affair.

When one hears the score 6-1, blowout is the first thing that comes to mind.

That may be true in most cases, but it was not the case in Gloucester's defeat at the hands of St. Mary's of Lynn. The Fishermen skated with St. Mary's for three periods and even outshot their Division 1 counterparts, 25-22. Gloucester, however, could not seem to catch a break in their end of the ice, which resulted in defeat in front of a rowdy crowd yesterday at the Dorothy Talbot Rink.

Ever since St. Mary's of Lynn released this winter's boys hockey schedule, Zak Borowski probably had last night circled with a bright red marker.

Borowski, who is a senior for the Spartans, played his first three years of high school hockey at Gloucester but was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons last February. He transferred to St. Mary's for his senior year.

St. Mary's defeated Lynnfield at the Kasabuski Arena Friday in the Division 2 finals of the Saugus Federal Credit Union Holiday Hockey Classic.

After two periods, the Pioneers held a 4-1 lead, but the Spartans answered back scoring five goals on seven shots in the third period to force the game into overtime. In the overtime, Gloucester’s Zak Borowski dug the puck out from behind the net and fed John Baldwin in the slot for the game-winner at 2:11 for a 7-6 win.

LYNN | Manning Field seemed like a forbidding place for the Bishop Fenwick football team to revive its season Saturday.

It was a dark, dreary atmosphere, with the skies threatening a downpour throughout the afternoon, and the shaky Crusaders were fighting a two-game losing streak in which they had been burned for a total of 64 points.

With her team trailing by a goal late in the second half, Swampscott girls soccer player Erin Langan made the most of the opportunity she was given.

With 10 minutes to play, Langan stepped into the box for a crucial penalty kick and buried it in the top right corner of the net, lifting the Big Blue to a 2-2 tie with host St. Mary's of Lynn.