ACTON - You know a conference is pretty good when all four semifinalists in the sectional bracket hail from the same league.

That was the case this year in the Division 3 North bracket, which was made up of four Cape Ann League teams with Georgetown playing Ipswich in one game and Newburyport playing Lynnfield in the other.

It has not been a rare occurrence in recent times, either, as the CAL has established itself as the pre-eminent league power in Division 3 girls soccer. Traditional powers like Lynnfield, North Reading, Hamilton-Wenham, Georgetown and clearly Newburyport have owned the North despite sometimes displaying worse records than the likes of a Nazareth or Greater Lowell.

The reason those CAL teams do so well clearly has to do with the strength of the conference as a whole. Playing against the likes of North Andover, Masconomet, and even Wilmington to go along with the previously mentioned strong Small teams, each CAL team is battled tested and prepared for the state tournament.

Whereas in other weaker conferences, a team like Shawsheen or Pope John may have an impressive one-loss or even undefeated record, but those programs mainly compete against weaker talent. Those types of games often lead to developing poor habits and regression in development.

That is why teams from those conferences often find themselves staring at the wrong side of 5-0 loss in the first round despite having a higher seed in the tournament.

Back to back

Yesterday, the Clippers earned their second straight trip to the state semifinals to face Norwell in a rematch of last year's Division 3 Eastern Mass. final.

For coach Robb Gonnam, the game will mark his third appearance in the state semifinals as the Newburyport coach. Never have his Clippers advanced past that stage of the tournament.

Best play

Clearly against Ipswich, it was the corner kick. Four times the Clippers scored directly off corners.

The firs was Laura Muise to Avery Cullinan for Maggie Mahoney's header goal (37:43). The second was Micaela Hogan to Colleen Coviello for another header goal (28:56). The third was Hogan again to Taylor Bresnahan for a rocketed volley into the corner netting (13:39). And the fourth, which was the Clippers' fifth goal of the game, was Muise to Bresnahan for another header goal (32:03 second half).

Best goal

Newburyport saved the best for last. Coviello finished the scoring by finding a seam between two Ipswich defenders on the right side of the field before cutting into the top of box and hitting a rocket into the upper left corner of the goal.

Food for thought

Last year, Newburyport was scoring goals at an outrageous clip - 67 goals in the regular season and 11 in the state tournament. This year the Clippers were even better scoring 79 goals in the regular season and have netted 15 already in the state tournament.

Look out, Norwell, come tomorrow night.

Warning to the CAL

With five seniors on the Newburyport roster, Gonnam will lose some very talented players whenever this spectacular season comes to an end.

However, the JV team compiled its second-best record in Gonnam's tenure at Newburyport and the word around town is that the eighth-grade group of girls has some special players on the way.