PEABODY – Peabody coach Dennis Desroches knew his team needed to have its ‘A’ game on Wednesday at Donaldson Field in the Division 1 North quarterfinals against Westford Academy.The Tanners didn’t have their best game and the Grey Ghosts made them pay dearly for it.Westford, the No. 9 seed out of a deep Dual County League, clogged up passing lanes with its speed and got goals from Rachel Secrist and Jen Larrick to stun the top seed, 2-1, and move to Friday’s semifinals against Acton-Boxboro.Click here for a photo gallery.”(Westford) did an outstanding job defensively,” Desroches said. “They got in the passing lanes and basically didn’t let us do what we wanted to offensively.”The Grey Ghosts (14-5-2) were able to take advantage of a breakdown late in the first half to grab a 1-0 lead and swipe away momentum that had squarely been on Peabody’s side through most of the opening 40 minutes.”That was the best game we’ve played all season,” Westford coach Tracy Capone said. “We have faced tough competition all year but we knew coming in that Peabody had tremendous speed. Our defense was just fantastic.”It was that defense, led by stopper Katy Sheridan, that made life miserable for Peabody’s talented front line. The Tanners were also dealt a blow midway through the first half when Emily Manoogian was lost for the game with an injured ankle.”Emily distributes the ball for us and is a captain on the field,” Desroches said. “But we had a lot of girls come in and do a great job in her place. I know Emily is proud of them for how they played.”The tone for the evening was set almost immediately when Victoria Digiacomo got behind the defense but sent a shot over the net at the four-minute mark.Most of the half was spent in the midfield before Hayley Dowd shook free of Sheridan’s escort for a moment but rang a shot off the outside of the left post. Moments later, Manoogian left the field following a collision and Westford nearly scored but Brienna Griffin made two huge saves.”Emily going out for them was tough,” Capone said. “But their frontline is so talented and we knew that coming in.”Digiacomo came up snake-eyes again with 10 minutes left in the half before Westford broke the ice when Secrist took a through ball and beat Griffin with 4:21 to go for a 1-0 lead.Peabody would come up empty again right after Secrist’s goal as Meghan Reid robbed Digiacomo and Madison Doherty point-blank to preserve the 1-0 lead at the break.”That goal right before the half was a big swing in momentum for them,” Desroches said.The Grey Ghosts continued to play with intensity at the start of the second half and it paid off quickly as Kelly Huber set up Larrick for a shot past Caitlin Lodi just 2:07 in.”Rachel’s goal at the end of the half was huge. It gave the girls a little confidence and let them come out and play a little freer in the second half,” Capone said.Dowd had a chance five minutes later to halve the lead but Sheridan made a brilliant breakup from behind on a partial breakaway. Katie Brunelle would then ring the crossbar with 22 minutes to go as Peabody turned up the wick offensively.The Tanners, however, would come up empty until the final moments when Dowd ripped a shot past Reid to make things interesting. Westford, though, stonewalled Peabody’s last gasp attack to seal the upset.”We just couldn’t match their intensity until the last 20 minutes,” Desroches said. “But to the girls’ credit, they never quit ? that was one of the fastest teams we’ve played this season.”