MIAA Roundup: Peabody girls soccer reaches D1 North semifinals

The Peabody girls soccer team showed how deep it truly is on Wednesday night at Donahue Field in the Division 1 North quarterfinals against Concord-Carlisle.In a game where both Hayley Dowd and Victoria Digiacomo were held goalless, the Tanners shackled C-C’s high scoring Andrea O’Brien in holding the Patriots to two shots on goal en route to a dominant 3-0 win and a semifinal date with Acton-Boxboro Friday (2:30 at Manning Field).”Our ability to stop that offense was huge,” Peabody coach Dennis Desroches said. “Andrea is one of the best players in the state and to contain her and not let her get any shots was great. Our defensive effort is what won us the game.”The unbeaten Tanners (18-0-2) saw three different players step up and get on the scoresheet to pick up the slack with C-C marking Dowd and Digiacomo all over the pitch.”It’s kind of funny not seeing those two on the scoresheet but it speaks to the balance we have this year,” Desroches said. “When Hayley and Victoria are marked tight, we have a lot of other girls that have stepped up and done the job.”The game was scoreless until just past the midpoint of the first half when Christa Trombley was able to finish off a throw-in from Dowd that was bobbled by the Concord keeper to give the Tanners a 1-0 lead at intermission.”Getting that goal was huge and it seemed to pick our game up even more,” Desroches said.Peabody continued to thwart C-C’s push in the second half and got an insurance goal with 28:00 left as Kasey Provost lofted a rebound home for a 2-0 lead.Caroline Colbert completed the night for Peabody, scoring in the final minutes to provide the final cushion.Caitlin Lodi had to make only two saves in goal as the backline of Bianca Moscato, Cayla Bucci, Kara Digiacomo and Taylor Provost were strong in the face of the Patriot attack.”Those four have been back there for three years now and they communicate and work together very well,” Desroches said.BOYS SOCCERBillerica 3, Peabody 1It was a frustrating night at every level for the Tanners, who were eliminated in the quarterfinals by a foe they had bested during the regular season.”You’re always worried playing a team you’ve beaten during the year and I was leery of that coming in,” Peabody coach Stan McKeen said. “Simply put, they wanted it more than us and I can’t explain it. An opportunity to get to the semifinal was there for the taking.”The Tanners (15-5) had several chances to take the lead in the first half but couldn’t get anything past Billerica keeper Ryan Santarpio, who came up with golden saves on Mike Chiappini and Shawn Bernardo to keep the game scoreless at the half.It took less than a minute of play in the second half for Billerica to take control as Joe Hill finished a Leo Trindade pass at the 54 second mark.The Tanners clawed back off a Chiappini free kick as JV call-up Matheus DosSantos tied the game on the rebound with 27:25 to go.”I could see even when we scored that Billerica was still pumped up,” McKeen said. “We didn’t get enough touches so our midfield couldn’t come up and attack.”Less than eight minutes later, Chris Sanchez’ right footed rocket off a corner kick gave Billerica the lead for good. Peter Melo added the knockout punch with 13:40 left, scoring off a give and go with Brendon DeDomenico.In other action, No. 1 seed Danvers beat Pentucket, 2-1, in the Division 2 North quarterfinals. The Falcons will play on Friday (12:15) at Woburn in the semifinal round.VOLLEYBALLFenwick 3, Stoneham 0At Stoneham, the Crusaders earned a trip to the Division 2 North final for the second straight year and for the second straight year, they’ll face Melrose. Fenwick won 25-20, 25-22 and 25-20. Anna Witkowski led the way with 12 kills and eight digs. Kate Lipka had 10 blocks. The Crusaders will play Saturday at 3 p.m. at Lawrence High School.