His size and quickness are a rare combination in the Catholic Conference. In practice, the senior attack from Quincy abuses teammates during one-on-one drills, dodging the net with quick, hard cuts that can leave defenders spinning. With his 6-foot, 164-pound frame, he can force his way through opponents, or put his long legs to work, make a cut, and run right by them.

With the state tournament right around the corner, the Bishops are in prime position as a contender in Division 3 . It’s a nice comeback for Lawless, who missed the final weeks of last season with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

Before Lawless was sidelined, Archies had won five of its previous six games, with Lawless (50 goals, 10 assists) and freshman Cam Joyce (10 goals, 47 assists) teaming up as a prolific 1-2 scoring punch.

The roll came to a screeching halt on May 9 against Arlington Catholic, when a teammate rolled hard into the side of Lawless’s left knee.

“I kind of heard a pop and knew something was wrong right away,’’ Lawless said. “I went down and tried to get back up and move it, but it was really loose.’’

The injury didn’t require surgery — just a summer’s worth of daily rehabilitation work — but the damage to Archies’ season was already done. The team limped to an 11-9 regular-season finish, and in the first round of the state tournament, the Bishops were slammed by Westwood, 10-3.

“It killed us offensively,’’ Joyce said. “He was the biggest offensive threat on the team. No one else really wanted to go to the cage as much as he did. Whenever we needed a goal, he just took the ball and went to the net.’’

“I just wanted to play,’’ Lawless said. “It was going so well. It really stunk not being able to play, kind of watching the offense go down a little bit from the sidelines.’’

This year, the squad started 15-1 with a Catholic Central-best 7-1 conference record. Lawless, who has committed to attend University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in the fall, is showing no ill effects from the injury. He leads the Bishops in goals (48) and has 72 total points.

“You could tell he was hesitant for the first two or three days of tryouts,’’ said ABW coach Bob Joyce, Cam’s father. “Once the first game was over, he knew he could make the cuts, and he’s been on a tear lately.

“His level of play is above what it was last year simply because, last year, he was the one who was relied on so much to score the goals. This year, he’s actually a playmaker as well as a finisher.’’

His development into a more well-rounded player has resulted in a breakout sophomore season around the net for Cam Joyce, who led Archies in points (75) and assists (58) as a freshman.

Although he still needs to add a few pounds to his 5-foot-8, 115-pound frame, he is playing with more aggression and the results are a team-best 76 points (44 goals, 32 assists).

“Last year, I was more of a playmaker because, as a freshman, I was more afraid to get hit and didn’t know what to expect during the season,’’ said Cam Joyce. “This year, I know what to expect, and having seen how [Justin] plays, and what he does, I try to play like him.’’

Lawless said: “I just seem to find him, wherever he is. It’s just good chemistry, I guess. We get along real well and we play similarly, so we feed off each other real well.’’

As a whole, the Bishops are a far deeper bunch this season, especially at offensive end. Seniors Matt Previte (Holbrook) and Jon O’Brien (Sandwich), as well as junior Mike Boyle (Weymouth) and sophomore Cam Dillon (Braintree) make this the deepest squad Bob Joyce said he has coached in his eight years at the helm.

With only a handful of games separating Archies from a return to the state tournament, the Bishops know a subpar schedule has them overlooked by many.

“We always get disrespected,’’ Bob Joyce said. “[Coaches] always rate the top six or top eight [teams], and we’re never in there. We deserve to be in there, in the top six right now. We’ll take the underdog role and surprise everybody, if that’s the way we have to do it.’’

Coach Kara Connerty, however, doesn’t want her squad getting ahead of itself, and remembers that anything can happen in the state tournament.

To serve as a reminder, Connerty has had her players research historic upsets from the past, either by a team or an individual, and present the facts in practice.

“Having won the state title last year, there is pressure, that’s obviously what they want to do this year,’’ Connerty said. “But it takes a lot to win a state title. It’s a reminder that we can’t rest on having won it last year. We need to work hard through the regular season and into the postseason.’’

Jake Seiner can be reached at jseiner@globe.com.