North Branford — Less than two weeks removed from a demoralizing 15-6 loss to North Branford, Old Lyme got one more chance against the Thunderbirds, this time with the stakes much higher.

And Wildcats, who lost twice to the Shoreline Conference champions during the regular season, were up to the challenge, exploding for 12 first half goals on the way to a 15-10 victory over one of their biggest rivals in the first round of the CIAC Class S girls' lacrosse tournament on Tuesday.

"We knew we had to go in with everything we had," Old Lyme coach Emily Macione said. "The girls were ready, and North Branford always brings the best out of us because they're such an incredible team."

Old Lyme, the No. 12 seed, scored the games first three goals, expected an early 5-3 lead into a 12-5 halftime advantage, and forced the No. 5 Thunderbirds to play catch-up the rest of the day.

"Having seen them twice and having had good starts in both games," Macione said, "we knew we had to put two strong halves together. Our mentality was one play at a time and being aggressive to everything — draw controls, 50-50 balls, ball pressure. We new we had to apply ball pressure early, not sit back and attack. Once we got a little momentum going, that just encouraged us to keep going."

Old Lyme (12-7) had a balance attack led by Paige Britton with four goals and one assist. Bella Arias and Lydia Tinnerello each had three goals and one assist, Catharine Harris scores three goals, Ann Sather and Olivia Stack had one goal apiece and goalie Hayden Saunders made 13 saves.

Jessie Kilburn had five goals and two assists for North Branford (15-4).

Old Lyme moves on to Thursday's quarterfinals against the winner of Wednesday's first-round game between No. 4 St. Paul and No. 13 Weston.

"It's definitely been and up and down season," Macione said, "but we played with more sense of urgency (Tuesday). The girls just want to keep playing.

In other games:

• Hannah Lamb scored five goals to power No. 3 Stonington past No. 19 Bethel 17-10 in Class S. The Bears (16-3) overcame a sluggish start and pulled away after leading 8-7 at halftime.

"They were more aggressive than us in the first half," coach Jeff Medeiros said. "We came out flat. We found our footing and figured it out. It shouldn't have been a close game."

Emma Sabbadini had four goals and two assists and Kate Johnson had three goals and five assists while Megan Detwiler added three goals, Abigail Remmert had two goals and an assist and goalie Isabella McCarthy made five saves for the Bears, who host East Catholic at 5 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals.

• No. 6 Fitch outscored No. 11 Brookfield 11-2 in the second half, pulling away for a 17-5 win in Class M. Fitch will play at No. 3 East Lyme in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 5 p.m.

Maggie O'Leary had five goals and two assists for Fitch (13-4), including the 200th goal of her career. Molly Bresnahan made 15 saves, Rita Sefransky had five goals and an assist, Jessica Russo had four goals and an assist and Bridget O'Leary scored twice for the Falcons.  

Girls' tennis

• No. 15 Waterford saw its season come to an end with a 6-1 loss to No. 7 Lauralton Hall in the quarterfinals of the Class M tournament. Micky Green won 7-6, 6-1, at No. 4 singles for the Lancers (13-6).

Boys' golf

• East Lyme wrapped up the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I title with a 7-0 win over Fitch. Evan Kluge of East Lyme was the medalist with a 2-over-par 37 at Old Lyme Country Club. Ben Bohmbach (39), Logan Rolfe (40), Dan Singer (42) and Matt Orefice (44) also won matches for East Lyme, which also beat Morgan 7-0. The Vikings (16-1, 6-0) had a 158 medal point to a 194 for Fitch (12-4-1, 4-2). 

• Montville picked up a pair of wins, beating New London 6-1 and Plainfield 7-0 in an ECC Div. III match. Zachary Scott of New London was the medalist with a 7-over-par 42 at Great Neck Country Club. Tyler Radford led Montville (7-10, 4-2) with a 46 and teammates Grant Kortfelt, Jack Minas, Morgun Whittaker and Aaron Muncaster also won their matches. New London (2-14) lost to Plainfield 5-1.

• Old Saybrook's Jack Walsh shot a 38 at Black Hall Club to earn medalist honors and lift the Rams to a 170-85 win over Old Lyme. Corey Drummond shot a 41 and Peter Macadam a 43 for the Wildcats.