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A late-season matchup between the two best teams in Massachusetts lived up to the hype and then some.

St. Sebastian’s and Belmont Hill renewed their rivalry with first place in the Independent School League on the line Friday. It appeared as if the Arrows were going to come out with the inside track to the top seed in the playoffs, taking a five-goal lead into the fourth quarter.

That’s when it all changed.

What a Comeback for Belmont Hill

Belmont Hill scored seven unanswered in the final 12 minutes to finish off a stunning 13-11 win. Dylan Casillo, a Virginia commit, scored the game-winning goal while man down with 3:52 remaining.

Defending league champion Belmont Hill moved to 11-2 overall and 9-0 in the ISL. St. Sebastian’s dropped to 10-2 with an 8-1 mark in league play.

“It was going to be a long 12 minutes,” Belmont Hill head coach Tim Sullivan said when asked what the message was heading into the final frame.

“We’re going to win faceoffs and just go one possession at a time and not rush things. We’ve been talking a lot about that this year, about playing the game 10 seconds at a time. Not looking ahead in an 18-game schedule. Not looking ahead in a 48-minute game. Just, 10 seconds at a time.

“I’ll give the boys a lot of credit. They stacked just great 10 seconds a piece. They worked really hard. They should feel great about this win.”

Verville Spearheads the Comeback

Senior Lindan Verville (Laxachsetts/Virginia) finished with four goals, including a fourth quarter hat trick to help spur the comeback. Junior goalie Will Butler (Laxachusetts) was remarkable down the stretch, finishing with 12 saves. Senior Eli Friedman (Cornell) was also instrumental with some huge face off wins and ground balls down the stretch. He finished with 16 wins on the day.

Junior Christopher Batchelder and Casillo added hat tricks. Casillo also had an assist. Junior Trey Clayton (Laxachusetts/UMass) had two goals.

Seniors Crosby Thurmond (Laxachusetts/Holy Cross) and John Stenberg (Laxachusetts/Dartmouth) led St. Seb’s with a hat trick each. Stenberg added an assist. Junior David Hahm (Laxachusetts/Boston University) had 10 faceoff wins.

The Sextants led 3-2 after one, but the Arrows scored six in the second quarter, taking an 8-5 lead into halftime. A massive third quarter in the cage (six saves, 12 total) for Senior Chandler McClements (Laxachusetts/Penn) helped lead the Arrows to the five-goal cushion heading into the fourth quarter.

Verville’s heroics were even more impressive given the fact that Belmont Hill’s senior star Preston Evans (Laxachusetts/Brown) was injured in the third quarter and didn’t return.

Defending Champs Back for More?

Verville opened the scoring, but it was those final 12 minutes where he took over. Down 11-8, he went lefty down the alley and bounced home a shot inside the right pipe. Just over a minute later, Verville cut it to 11-10 sprinting down the right alley and stinging the left pipe. An absolute rocket from top left  that went bar-down tied the game with 4:54 to go.

“When we’re down like that, we’ve just got to believe in one another and love one another and that’s what we did,” said Verville. “That’s not me. That’s all my teammates. We did it together and pulled that one out.

“It’s Seb’s (vs.) BH, We knew they were going to bring it, we had to bring it harder and we did…when No. 7 (Evans) goes down, everyone has to step up and everyone did. He’s obviously one of the best players in the league, one of the best players on the team, so everyone on the team had to step up in a big way and they did.”

The performance was quite a show that helped lead the Sextants to a comeback for the ages.

Belmont Hill vs. St. Sebastian’s Standouts

Lindan Verville ’25, midfield, Belmont Hill (Mass.) / Laxachusetts – Virginia

Verville’s incredible performance can’t be overstated. Given the dire position Belmont Hill was in, the Virginia commit’s ability to simply take over as a dodger and as a lethal threat from outside late in the game was extremely impressive. He’s going to be a big reason why the Sextants make a run at back-to-back ISL titles, especially if Evans is out.

“I saw what we saw out of him for four years,” said Sullivan. “Just an absolute warrior of a competitor. The definition of what a captain should be. He put the team on his back when we had some setbacks. Him and Eli and Preston, they push the kids every day and they give them confidence that anyone on this field can do anything that needs to be done to win.

Will Butler ’26, goalie, Belmont Hill (Mass.) / Laxachusetts 

After McClements put on a show in the third, Butler was up to the task in the fourth with some remarkable point-blank saves. The biggest sequence of the game came after the Sextants cut it to 11-10. After a turnover, St. Seb’s had two doorstep opportunities in transition and Butler denied them both. The Sextants tied the game about a minute later and the rest was history.

“He’s just grown so much this year,” Sullivan said. “We’ve had a great lineage of goalies and part of what we do here is, you’re going to back up for a year. You’re going to learn from an older goalie and learn how things go. Will was phenomenal learning from James Mullowney and so he was ready. James spent last year – obviously being our starting goalie – but getting Will ready.”

Trey Clayton ’26, midfield, Belmont Hill (Mass.) / Laxachusetts – UMass

The former Acton-Boxborough star has been a great addition to the Belmont Hill squad. A future Minuteman, Clayton had a nice little give-and-go during a fast break with Casillo and finished in tight to put the Sextants up 3-1 early. Later, Clayton buzzed around the cage and finished with a right-handed rip for the dagger. Clayton hasn’t had to be ‘the man’ for Belmont Hill, but if Evans is out, he’s another guy that can be relied on with his physical dodging and ability to create space for himself.

Crosby Thurmond ’25, midfield, St. Sebastian’s (Mass.) / Laxachusetts – Holy Cross

Crosby is a bulldozer when he needs to be, but he can also finesse a little bit around the cage. He opened the scoring for St. Seb’s with a high-to-low laser from up top. During the Arrows’ run in the second quarter, he made it 5-3 with a back door tuck on a little bouncer following a feed from sophomore Quincy Quillard. Crosby got his hat trick in the third quarter sprinting down the left alley and burying a shot inside the right post for an 11-5 lead at the time.

John Stenberg ’25, midfield, St. Sebastian’s (Mass.) / Laxachusetts – Dartmouth

Stenberg is just somehow always around the bal. His first of two tallies came on a quick restart when he sprinted in from X and cleanly beat McClements. His second goal made it 6-4 Seb’s in the second when he picked up a loose ball after a save and buried it for a man-up goal. He’s a problem on the ride for long poles too.

Chandler McClements ’25, goalie, St. Sebastian’s (Mass.) / Laxachusetts – Penn

Despite the loss, McClements’ performance was as good as it gets. He would have been THE story of the game with a different result. There were also a few incredible jaw-dropping saves that stifled the Sextants up until that final quarter. He showed impressive downfield vision on the clear. There’s a reason he’s considered one of the best overall players in Massachusetts.