MIAA Roundup: Fenwick girls fall to Newburyport

The Bishop Fenwick girls soccer team found itself down by two goals at the half and couldn’t dig out of the hole in a 4-0 loss to Newburyport in Division 2 North quarterfinal action on Tuesday.”We started out playing great the first 10 minutes,” Fenwick coach Karen Guillemette said. “We were controlling the tempo. They called a timeout and that kind of broke it up.”The Crusaders (10-6-4) defeated Boston Latin Academy in the first round of the tournament. Last year, Fenwick lost in its first game. Defenders Gina Vellucci and Sam Borelli, and midfielder Becky Mercuro, all played well in the loss.Beverly 2, Concord-Carlisle 0At Beverly, Caitlin Harty scored both goals for the Panthers (16-3) and goalie Casey Cook provided a shutout with seven saves in a Division 1 North quarterfinal game.Harty put Beverly ahead, 1-0, with a goal just a minute and a half into the game. The Panthers, led by Deindra Croley, held Concord-Carlisle in check until Harty provided the insurance goal with two minutes left in the contest.Beverly moves on to the Division 1 North semifinals against Westford on Thursday.BOYS SOCCERNewburyport 2, Lynnfield 1The Pioneers (10-8-3) played a spirited second half, but they came up just short in a Division 3 North quarterfinal game.”We played well in the second half and we had many chances,” said Lynnfield head coach Brent Munroe.Newburyport took a 1-0 lead into halftime. Blake Strader evened the score before Newburyport netted the game-winning goal with five minutes left in the game.”I’m very proud of how well we played,” added Munroe.St. John’s Prep 1, Acton-Boxborough 0At Danvers, the Eagles (16-1-2) got their revenge on Acton-Boxborough behind a goal by Lev Kazalyan with 20 minutes left in the Division 1 North quarterfinal contest.The Prep had lost to A-B in the MIAA Tournament for the past two years. Goalkeeper Ben Alpern notched his 11th shutout of the season.Midfielder Brooks Clark and center back Carter Ocko gave sterling efforts for the Eagles.St. John’s will play Masconomet on Thursday at Manning Field in the Division 1 North semifinals.In other tournament action, in the Division 2 North quarterfinals, the host Danvers Falcons (15-4-1) lost to Concord-Carlisle, 5-3. The Salem Witches (12-5-3) saw their season come to an end with a 1-0 defeat to Pentucket in Haverhill.VOLLEYBALLWeston 3, Bishop Fenwick 0The Crusaders (17-5) fell (25-22, 28-26, 25-17) in a Division 2 North quarterfinal match.Junior captains Kate Lipka (10 kills and 3 blocks) and Jen Crovo (16 digs) gave a strong effort for Fenwick.”They were a lot stronger team than we expected,” said Fenwick head coach Adam DeBaggis. “We could never gain any momentum.”