Peabody boys soccer ready to go

PEABODY – The last time the Peabody boys soccer team was on the field it saw its 2010 season come to an end on a cold and rainy night with a 4-1 loss at home to Framingham in the Division 1 North first round.That loss left a bitter taste for a very experienced group of returnees that came to the Tanners first day of practice on Thursday ready to try and end the first round tournament jinx for Peabody.”Hopefully we can go beyond that first round this year,” McKeen said of the streak that has seen his team lose its last four opening round games in the tourney. “Depth wise we are going to be very good and we have a lot of experience. It’s a matter of melding that all together.”Peabody had a stellar regular season a year ago, finishing 13-3-2 and sharing the Northeastern Conference/North crown with Danvers. They then knocked off Billerica in penalty kicks during the prelims before being ousted by the Flyers.The Tanners graduated seven seniors off last year’s roster but the cupboard is not bare for McKeen’s club as 16 seniors showed up for tryouts with seven of them having seen varsity time as juniors.McKeen’s captains are midfielders Colin Mahoney and Alec Cerqueira along with sweeper Zack DaSilva and striker Mike Chiappini.”Our captains are very dedicated,” McKeen said. “This is the least amount of seniors we’ve lost in a long time.”One of the areas hit by graduation was the back line as McKeen lost two of his starting defenders, but will look to Scott Myers and DaSilva to help sure up the defense. In net, both Patrick Ryan and Anthony Ferrara return to help shoulder the load.Up front, the Tanners have plenty of firepower to go along with Chiappini and Cerqueira’s talents. Tommy Drover; Vlasi Duni; Sean Bernardo and John and Joe Ramsey all saw plenty of time and will hope to prove the scoring punch for the Tanners.The Tanners will have plenty of top notch competition on their schedule this season. Along with their always tough NEC North slate, Peabody opens its season against Division 1 power Acton-Boxboro. They also have non leaguers with Everett, Central Catholic and Billerica before closing the year against Cape Ann League stalwart Masconomet and former Bishop Fenwick coach Dave Mitchell.”I think the NEC North is going to be very competitive this year,” McKeen said. “It always is a battle with those teams.”