RallyNorth.net

For the first time in eight years, North Andover has captured the CAL championship.

With last night's 1-0 win over Newburyport, the Knights dethroned traditional power, Masconomet, which has dominated the league for much of the past eight seasons. Gareth Dudney tallied the only goal of the game.

North Reading's Ben Harrow was perfect in a 0-0 tie with Rockport. Late in the second half, Harrow made a breakaway-save on All-League striker A.J. Burnham, tipping his shot over the bar to bring the Hornets' record to 6-9-2.

North Andover spotted arch-rival Andover a 1-0 lead early in the second half before roaring back for a 3-1 victory. Gareth Dudney, Jay Marchand and Evan Boudreau all scored for the Knights (14-1-2).

Haverhill senior Jared Lewis had an unassisted goal and scored on a penalty kick to lift the Hillies past Billerica 2-0 in their last regular-season game. Haverhill (10-6-1) will now await Thursdays state tournament pairings.

A tie was good enough for the Whittier soccer team, which deadlocked North Shore 1-1 yesterday to win the Commonwealth Conference small school title with a 6-5-2 record. Jacob Bradwell scored his 26th goal of the season for the Wildcats on an assist from Danny Belanger and Traeger Domoretski stood out in goal with 14 saves.

 Just days ago, No. 10 Salem shocked No. 7 Winnacunnet. But it was not to be yesterday, as the Blue Devils fell to No. 2 Exeter 5-0 in the Class L quarterfinals.

 Aaron Starkman turned in for saves, but it was not enough as No. 6 Londonderry fell to No. 3 Bishop Guertin in the Class L quarterfinals.

Behind 13 saves by Peter Siragusa, No. 5 Pinkerton pushed No. 4 Manchester Central to double overtime before falling 1-0 in the Class L quarterfinals. Ethan Berceli and Zach Wheeler each stood out for the Astros (13-5).

On Thursday, North Andover's Gareth Dudney was voted the Cape Ann League MVP and, yesterday, celebrated the honor by scoring two first half goals in North Andover's 4-0 win over Masconoment Regional.

In a game which began Wednesday, Londonderry finally eliminated Keene, pulling out the win on penalty kicks. Andre Simmond, Kevin Greene and Connor Pauley scored for the Lancers while Aaron Starkman only relinquished one PK goal. He had one brilliant PK save to turn the tide.

No. 5 Pinkerton blanked Timberlane, 4-0, and advanced to Saturday's quarterfinal round (at 3 p.m.) vs. the winner of No. 13 Spaulding and No. 4  Manchester Central.  The highest seed will host the next round game.

Mike Abi-Aad scored both goals as Salem knocked off Winnacunnet, 2-1, in opening-round Class L action.

John Lyons made one spectacular save with 10 minutes left, but couldn't clear it due to the wet conditions. A Winnacunnet forward pounced and booted a screamer off Lyons' face from close range but he made the save and wrapped up the rebound.

Trevor Glines was the lone honoree for youthful Fellowship Christian Academy on "Senior Day." Glines netted a goal and an assist in the Rams' 9-2 loss to Shawsheen Tech.

Nine different players were involved in the scoring as North Andover's boys soccer team whipped Amesbury 7-1. Jay Marchand led the way with a pair of goals and an assist for the Knights (12-1-2).

Under difficult weather conditions, defense made the difference in Methuen's first win of the season, 2-0 over Newburyport. Justin Bonneau, Fred Corey, Jesse Rodenhiser and Colin Trainor played exceptionally well and "kept everything in check," according to head coach Claude Beaudet. Reyny Martinez's goal eight minutes into second half play was the game-winner for the Rangers.