Saugus falls to Triton

SAUGUS – The Saugus girls soccer team faced Triton earlier this season and came out on the losing end of a 6-0 drubbing. On Wednesday afternoon, the teams met again and although the Sachems fell short in a 4-1 loss, the effort was much better than their initial go-round.After an extremely even first half that left the score deadlocked at one, the visiting Vikings surged to three goals in the final 40 minutes on the way to a 4-1 victory at Anna Parker Playground.?I thought we played a lot harder and better today than we have in quite some time,” said Saugus coach Chris Coviello. “Triton beat us real good the first time we saw them this season, but today I thought we competed quite well against them.”The teams engaged in a midfield battle to start the game, neither registering a shot until almost 10 minutes had passed. Triton?s Morgan Snow was awarded a penalty kick from the dot in the 12th minute, but her attempt to pick the top left corner sailed high.Snow had another great chance at the 24:17 mark as a free ball rolled rapidly towards Sachems keeper Caitlin Williamson, who raced out to narrowly beat the forward.The Sachems offense finally picked up the pace late in the half and was rewarded quickly.Kathryn White sent a kick-in from midfield, and the ball was knocked around before squirting towards the net. Mikayla Perella sent a shot that deflected up and over keeper Christine Ciccone before Perella hammered home her own rebound.?We played some good soccer in the first half and it finally paid off,” explained Coviello. “We put the pressure on their defense and Mikayla scored a great goal.”A Triton timeout followed the tally and the Sachems seemed to know that the Vikings pressure would intensify on the re-start. Unfortunately for Saugus, it didn?t seem prepared for how quickly the tide would turn.Just 1:15 after the icebreaker, Triton responded to knot the score. A corner kick found its way to the middle, where it was headed away, but right to Snow, who buried her shot past Williamson.The Vikings picked up right where they left off to begin the second half, scoring just three minutes in. Again it would be Snow, Triton?s X-factor, who did the damage.After being knocked off the ball on the left side, Snow recovered to finish off a terrific individual effort that saw her beat a few defenders before cutting to the middle and beating Williamson.Triton would score twice more in the half, the first from Teresa Benoit from a scramble in front in the 33rd minute. Rylee Culverwell closed out the scoring, converting after a corner kick with 15:15 to play.?Other than that 12-minute span in the second half where they scored three quick goals, I thought we matched them today,” explained Coviello. “We played without our two starting outside defenders today and Triton did a good job in taking the advantage.”