Spartans bow out in semifinals

LYNN – The St. Mary?s boys soccer team saw its season come to an end Wednesday in a 3-1 loss to Hamilton-Wenham in the Division 4 North semifinals at Manning Field.The Generals, the No. 7 seed, will face Georgetown in the North final Sunday at 1:15 p.m. at Manning Field.The Spartans came out strong and, for the first half and change, kept the pressure on Hamilton-Wenham keeper Henry Eager … and for the most part, off their own net. That was key, because the Spartans were without starting senior goalie Helio Neto, who was scheduled to undergo surgery on a broken hand today.St. Mary?s coach Mike D?Agostino called on freshman Joshua Bertrand to fill in at goalie for the first half. Although Bertrand held down the fort, he?s also the team?s leading scorer and his absence was felt up front.?It?s hard putting your leading goal scorer in net for the first half,” D?Agostino said.The Generals drew first blood midway through the first half (17:42). Bertrand had managed to tip a bullet of a shot that was heading for the top of the net high, but as the ball returned to earth, Hamilton-Wenham?s Aidan Prior, who was crashing the net, was in the right spot at the right time and he headed it in.Eager came up with a spectacular diving save on a shot by Noah Camelo with 8:21 left in the half. Camelo, as it turned out, was just warming up. With just under five minutes expired in the second half, Camelo drilled the ball from about the 20-yard line and tied the game at 1-1.?That kid put that left-foot blast in to tie it up,” Hamilton-Wenham coach Mike Gauron said. “That kind of took the wind out of our sails, but we came back.”D?Agostino had made a change to start the second half (when the Spartans were still trailing). He put Bertrand back up front and Erik Whitcomb took over in net. The Generals got what would be the winning goal with 27:26 left in the game. Thomas Dowd got a foot on a ball out front and knocked it home for a 2-1 lead. The Generals added an insurance tally with 13:21 remaining when Bobby Bertagna knocked home a rebound on a ball that hit the post.The Spartans brought everyone up for the final 10 minutes or so, including Whitcomb, who managed to knock the ball out of bounds around the midfield to save a breakaway.D?Agostino commended a couple of his own players, including Drew DiMaiti, who had the task of marking the Generals? big gun, Russell Grigorian, and Patrick Morin-Plante, who played well at center back.