It’s a bittersweet evening for Peabody girls soccer in D1 North final

LYNN – If you told the Peabody girls soccer team that it would lose one game all season, have the three leading scorers in the Northeastern Conference and make the Division 1 North final for the first time in program history, coach Dennis Desroches would have probably taken it.Add in the fact that the Tanners were starting five freshmen and two sophomores, and the fact that they actually made all those things happen was quite an accomplishment.On Monday at Manning Field, however, the No. 3-seeded Tanners finally met their match in top-seeded Acton-Boxboro. The Colonials broke open a 1-0 game at halftime with two goals in the first 2:00 of the second half to take a 3-0 win.Click here for a photo gallery.”To still be undefeated all the way to the Division 1 North final is quite impressive considering the team that we fielded,” Desroches said. “We’re starting five freshmen and two sophomores and that really bodes well for the future.”Led by freshmen Hayley Dowd and Victoria DiGiacomo and junior Emily Manoogian, the Tanners had averaged over six goals per game this season coming into the North final. But the Colonials used their quickness and physicality to limit Peabody’s offensive chances.”Their defense kept us off the board when we came in averaging six goals a game,” Desroches said. “And you have to give them credit for that. I thought we had plenty of chances; we just didn’t capitalize on them and they did.”Despite the lack of offensive chances, the Tanners were able to keep A-B at bay for most of the first half, limiting the damage to a corner-kick goal by Melanie Ritter in the 24th minute. Early in the second half, Peabody had a golden chance to tie the game when Colonial goalie Jessie Wiggins juggled a shot but was able to scoop up the loose ball.”Boy, if we could have put that one in there, it would have been a completely different game, maybe,” Desroches said afterwards.Less than two minutes later, the Colonials had upped the lead to 3-0 and were on their way to a sectional title.But don’t get the idea that Peabody was completely disappointed in coming up short on Monday. Though the sting of the loss was evident, Desroches knows that his team is fully loaded for bear when next September comes.”To do this with the lineup we had is great,” Desroches said. “To basically have a new team and not a lot of players with varsity experience says a lot about this group. I am so proud of what this team accomplished this year.”