A 15-5 playoff loss to Pinkerton in the Division I quarterfinals aside, Bill Lawson is ecstatic about the progress his Central boys lacrosse team made this season.

“We ended up 10-9, including the playoffs, but we had five losses in tight games that could have gone either way,” said Lawson, who added that learning to win those close contests is part of the team’s maturation process. “If a couple of those go our way, it changes our seeding position and maybe things are different for us, but we certainly took a huge step this year."

Not only were the Little Green’s 167 goals scored the most in the program’s five year history, but their 117 goals against was a school record as well.

They also reached doubledigit wins for the first time, finishing the regular season with a 10-8 record, and they reached the playoffs by defeating several opponents they had never beaten before. That list includes a 10-7 win against Souhegan, a 10-4 triumph over Nashua South, and a 9-6 victory at Concord.

“From a team perspective, we had a lot of good things happen this year,” said Lawson. “In fact, we keep getting better and better each year.”

Though the team loses eight of its leaders in seniors Jeff Monk, Kellan Grady, Ryan Gerrell, Shea McCarthy, Scott McCurdy and Ross Croasdale, Thomas Houle and Kris Butler, the majority of the Lawson’s players return.

And that gives the coach hope for further improvement next season.

“We’re bringing back twothirds of our defense and our two leading scorers, and we hope a bunch of the sophomores can transition up,” he said. “My reasonable expectation is that we improve on this year, and that’s as far as I’m going to go with it. I mean, I’d like to see us go a lot further, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on these kids just yet.”

Among those expected to take the field for Central in 2009 are Billy Lawson and Marc Perroni, who led the team in scoring this season. Tyler Pratte and Pat Tatro are again expected to anchor the defense in front of goalies Ethan Brown and Shaun Vesey, who will each see time in net. With a little more depth and some more seasoning, the sky’s the limit for those returning, said Lawson.

“I certainly expect them to not put their sticks away,” he said. “I expect them to go find a wall or someone to practice with and get even better in the offseason. I’m also a firm believer in kids playing multiple sports. Some of our best athletes play other sports, too, so I want to see them doing that as well.”

Others expected to return next season include Felipe Acevedo, Brandon Blackall, Ethan Brown, Kyle Clayton, Justin Colvin, Graham Conforti, Ryan Dempsey, Tom Hobbs, Austin Smith, and Jake Tremblay.