Acton-Boxboro ousts Peabody in D1 North final, 3-0

LYNN – The Peabody High girls soccer team saw its season end with a 3-0 loss to Acton-Boxboro in the Division 1 North final at Manning Field on Monday.Click here for a photo gallery.Acton-Boxboro was the top seed in the Division 1 North sectional with a record of 19-0-0. The Colonials were the champions of the Dual County League. Their coach, Lee Billard, is in his first year at the helm of the Colonials. Peabody, meanwhile, was the No. 3 seed with a record of 18-0-2. The Tanners were the champions of the Northeastern Conference/North. Dennis Desroches is in his second season as the head coach of the Tanners.Peabody relies on the brilliant midfield play of Angela Ellison and Emily Manoogian to get the ball up the field to Victoria Digiacomo and Hayley Dowd. This strategy has been successful in an undefeated NEC season. A-B also relies on similar tactics to get the ball to Hayley Brock, who is the leader of the Colonials. Her speed and ball skills, along with the passing of wing midfielder Marie Margolius, are difficult for any defense to stop.The first 15 minutes were played between the penalty areas, with each team taking turns controlling the tempo. Very gradually, A-B started to control the midfield and for six or seven minutes the ball never came out of the Peabody end.Peabody began to constrict its defense and soon there were nine Peabody players in or near the area. A-B kept shooting on Tanner keeper Brienna Griffin. In the 24th minute, A-B had a corner kick. Brock took the kick from the right corner. It bounced around in front of the keeper and sophomore midfielder Melanie Ritter put the shot high left corner to put A-B in front, 1-0.Peabody’s best chance in the first half was in the 32nd minute, when a 35-yard direct kick that looked like it was going in just under the crossbar was tipped over the crossbar by Colonial keeper Jessie Wiggins. This would be the closest the Tanners came to scoring in the game.The A-B defenders were relentless. Patricia Giglio, Abby O’Brien, Matilda Hart and Kristen Gargiulo shut down any offensive moves made by the Peabody strikers or their midfielders. These four defenders were helped by a myriad of midfielders who dropped back and picked up any Peabody player that was free. This defense completely frustrated the Peabody offense. Halftime came and the score was 1-0, Colonials.The eventual outcome of the game was decided in the first three minutes of the second half. In the 42nd minute, Brock put a 25-yard through ball from the left wing and caught sophomore Danielle Cremmen in full stride. Cremmen put a crossover move on the defender, went in on the keeper and slid the ball into the right corner to make the score 2-0, A-B. One minute later, after dishing out assists on the two Colonial goals, Brock got her goal for the night. Margolius feathered a pass between two defenders to Brock about 35 yards from the goal. Brock turned on the jets and pulled away from the defenders and put the ball under a sliding keeper. The score now stood at 3-0, A-B. There were still 37 minutes to play and the Peabody attack was quite capable of coming back. The A-B defenders stopped every drive that Peabody made. As the clock in Manning Field ticked slowly towards zero, the Tanners realized that they couldn’t crack the Colonial defense. The game ended without any further scoring. A-B will play Thursday against the winner of the South sectional.