The Foxborough High girls’ lacrosse team allowed the first goal in Tuesday afternoon’s game against Taunton High. Playing on its home turf, Taunton picked apart the Warriors’ defense to take a 1-0 lead.

Foxborough coach Brittany Sherry called a timeout. With expectations high after a 2-0 start, falling behind early wasn’t her team’s preferred script.

“We were really slow at the beginning,’’ conceded middie Sophia DiCenso. “I don’t know what it was.’’

Although just a freshman, DiCenso helped turn the tide. After the timeout, she caught a pass on the left wing, cradled twice, and knifed through the Taunton defense. Her shot whizzed passed the keeper, tying the score.

By the time DiCenso left the field for the first time with 8:15 remaining in the first half, her Warriors had stormed back to seize a 9-1 lead. Foxborough went on to win, 20-2 .

DiCenso is a playmaker, the spark plug who runs the midfield for Foxborough, which reached the Division 2 East semifinals last season. She’s one of several young players stepping up for title contenders, despite limited experience at the high school level.

“She’s probably one of the best freshman out there,’’ Sherry said. “She has a really high lacrosse IQ. She just knows the game . . . I don’t see her slowing down. I just see her getting better.’’

At Cohasset High, the Hansen sisters dominate the midfield. Elle, a sophomore, and Jane, a freshman, both plan to play at Northwestern.

“They’re the best players I’ve ever seen in my life,’’ said head coach Kully Reardon, who won two NCAA Division 3 titles as a player at Middlebury College.

“They really do an unbelievable job feeding off each other.’’

The Hansens are capable of scoring as well as setting up attackers. They also give Cohasset the flexibility to roll out a zone defense.

“This year, with El and Jane at the top,’’ said Reardon, “they’re unbelievably fast and they can get down the field very quickly and drop into the zone. The team sort of feeds off the intensity of the zone.’’

Braintree High coach Tracey Sullivan has also been able to utilize the zone this season. Sophomore defenders Molly Moore and Rachel Tutkus have been catalysts.

“They’re just lightning fast,’’ Sullivan said.

Moore and Tutkus picked up lacrosse as freshmen. Now they’re starting on a team that returns all but four starters from last year’s tournament squad.

The pair also play on the Wamps’ varsity basketball team.

“The position was easy because I had the footwork,’’ Moore said. “In basketball, it’s kind of the same motion; you have to slide your feet and stay in front of the girl.’’

Braintree will rely on the leadership of their only senior, goalie Molly Devlin, who has started in net for four straight years. Devlin has helped Moore and Tutkus adjust to their roles.

“She knows that we haven’t been playing a lot,’’ Tutkus said. “She talks about what we need to do to get better.’’

It’s easy for a senior to teach underclassmen. When the situation is reversed is when things can get dicey.

Notre Dame Academy freshman Caroline Cooper is trying out goalie for the first time. She hopes to lead the Cougars back to the Division 1 South final this year.

“You have to step up and lead the defense,’’ Cooper said. “I love stepping up to the plate and being a leader even at my young age.’’

Cooper, of Cohasset, is one of four freshmen playing vital roles for the Cougars, alongside defender Julia Greene (Norwell), midfielder Madison Ahern (Cohasset) and attacker Kelsey Kenney (Milton).

Senior Charlotte Allard, who plans to play at the University of North Carolina next year, has been impressed.

“They listen to everything any of the seniors say, and they really want to learn and make the team better,’’ said Allard, of Cohasset.

All four freshmen play together on the Mass Elite club team.

“They’ve shown, so far this season, [the ability] to control the ball and handle the pressure and really just play at the pace of the high school game,’’ said Notre Dame coach Meredith Frank, who won two national championships playing for Northwestern.

Foxborough’s DiCenso is no exception. She’s so talented, her teammates say, that even upperclassmen don’t mind receiving pointers.

“She’s not a selfish person,’’ said Warriors’ junior defender Hallie Canfield. “I don’t think we have that kind of dynamic on our team. We want to try to make everyone equal, so it’s not like seniors are better than everyone else.’’

DiCenso is a scorer, but her best attribute is finding her teammates. Look no further than her stat line from Tuesday’s win: three goals, two assists.

“She’s always trying to make people around her better,’’ Sherry said.

DiCenso is one of eight freshmen getting playing time on Foxborough’s varsity team.

Most of those freshmen played club lacrosse with the Neponset Valley Outlaws, where Sherry is a coach.

“With the club team, I’d only be playing my age group,’’ DiCenso said. “Now I’m playing seniors and juniors, so it is kind of different because they’re a lot bigger than me.’’

She played with the Outlaws for three years, before moving to Mass Elite last year.

Despite DiCenso’s jump in competition at the high school level, her teammates are confident she can maintain her success.

“The whole freshmen class,’’ said senior defender Annie McGeary, “ . . . is really good because they’ve been working with coach *(Sherry) on the Outlaws for so many years.

“She might face some face-guarding because she’s so well-known,’’ McGeary added. “But I think she’ll be able to handle it, definitely.’’

Matt MacCormack can be reached at matt.maccormack@globe.com.