MIAA boys soccer pairings announced

The North Shore will be well represented in the MIAA Division 1 boys soccer tournament, with five out of the 22 teams residing on the shoreline just north of Boston.”This is great for the North Shore,” English coach Kerry King said. ” I think teams in this area have a tendency of getting overlooked. There really is some great talent around here.”Peabody has been the best of the bunch all season long. The Tanners drew the fourth seed with a record of 14-1-3, and will play the winner of the preliminary round matchup of 13th-ranked Everett and 20th-ranked Lowell on Sunday at 1 p.m.Classical drew the ninth seed. NEC Player of the Year Miguel Castro and his 26 goals and nine assists will lead the Rams (11-4-3) against Brookline (10-3-5), the eighth seed, on Sunday at 11 a.m. in Brookline.”I think this is going to be a fairly evenly-matched game,” Classical coach Joe Skahan said. “The only thing that I really know about (Brookline) is that they have the second-leading scorer in the Bay State Carey Conference.”The Rams’ strength all season has been their offensive attack. Carlos Cifuentes had 14 goals and 10 assists; and Rafael Rosa and Cristian Lopez both had over 10 points on the season.”We haven’t been shut out once this season,” said Skahan. “Our struggles have been on the defensive side of the field.”English drew the 15th seed and will face the 18th-ranked and perennial powerhouse Andover (8-6-4) in the preliminary round, at home on Friday at 2:30 p.m.”(Andover) is a very strong program,” said King. “They play in a very tough conference, and their record can most likely be attributed to that.”This is the Bulldogs’ (8-5-5) first tournament berth in three years. Only three players have any tournament experience: Mubarak Nyang, Kevin Garduno and Alex Alvarez.”It’s a great accomplishment,” said King, “especially for the seniors. We have a great group of kids that have worked hard all season long.”Nyang led the scoring attack with 16 goals and eight assists. Daniel Cordoba has played solid in net all season. However, King believes much of English’s success should be attributed to the defense.”Chukuma (Halewalu), Ashani (Nelson) and Alex (Alvarez) have been solid all year,” he said. “We really are a defensive-oriented team.”The winner of this matchup will earn the right to play second-ranked East Boston (13-1-1).In the final Division 1 matchup featuring North Shore teams, 19th-ranked St. John’s (7-5-6) will travel to 14th-ranked rival Salem (10-6-3) at 2:30 on Friday. The winner will travel to third-ranked Haverhill on Sunday at 3 p.m.NEC South MVP Chris Nenshati will lead Division 2’s ninth seed, Swampscott (11-2-5), against eighth-ranked North Andover (12-2-4) on Saturday at 10 a.m.”(North Andover) has been a powerhouse for the last several years,” Big Blue coach Mike Chase said.D.J. Marquis will start in net for Swampscott. Marquis has had a strong first varsity season.”He is one of the most improved players that I’ve seen in a single season, in all of my years of coaching,” said Chase. “He has come up huge for us. Twentieth-ranked Marblehead (7-7-5) will match up with 13th-ranked Newburyport (9-5-4) on Friday at 4:30 p.m., for the right to play at Wilmington on Saturday at 5 p.m.”We don’t have any superstars on this team,” Magicians coach Steve Ingemi said. “We’re just a very balanced team.”Danvers, which drew the 19th seed, was the final team from the North Shore to make the Division 2 tournament. The Falcons (8-7-3) will travel to Melrose (8-4-6) to play the 14th seed on Friday at 3:30. The winner will earn the right to play Chelsea on Sunday at 6 p.m.Al Jackson will lead St. Mary’s to the Division 3 tournament for one last time. The 10th-ranked Spartans (8-7-2) will do battle with seventh-seeded Matignon (10-6-2) in Cambridge on Saturday at 11 a.m.Last season, Lynnfield made it all the way to the D3 championship game. This year, the Pioneers find themselves with a similar record (8-7-3).”We have the capability of playing well a