PEABODY — It may have been only a tie, but considering all the challenges the Peabody girls soccer has faced of late, Saturday’s 2-2 tie with visiting North Andover definitely felt more like a win.
Twice the Tanners (4-2-1) battled back from one-goal deficits to level the match against the undefeated Scarlet Knights (5-0-2), then survived a big North Andover offensive push in the last five minutes of regulation to preserve the tie.
Peabody freshmen Meghan Billingsley and Emily McDonough scored one goal each. But in the end, it was a couple of freshmen whose names might not normally appear in the stat column, along with goalkeeper Shelby Doucette, that ultimately made the difference at crunch time.
With the game tied at 1-1 and six minutes left in the first half, two-year starting sweeper Colleen Crotty went down hard in a collision and left the game, never to return. Her loss, and the absence of senior defender Catherine Manning (out with a stress fracture) left Peabody coach Dennis Desroches with a serious defensive dilemma after the Scarlets Knights added the go-ahead goal less than two minutes after Crotty’s exit.
“They scored that goal right after Colleen had to leave the game, and you could see we were definitely in need of an adjustment, so we had to move some kids around,” Desroches said. “Aja Alimonte normally plays center mid, but when Colleen went out, we dropped her back to sweeper, and she anchored the D beautifully in that second half. That left the two little freshmen, Samantha Simmons and McKayla Fisher, at center mid. Sam played fantastic and she was tremendous as was McKayla.”
Doucette finished with 11 saves, some of them coming late in the second half when the game was on the line.
“She played a great game and really cannot be faulted on either of their goals,” said Desroches. “Their first was an unmarked player on a corner, and their second was because we threw a leg at that player, who made a great move, but any time you reach like that it’s not going to turn out well.
“Shelby was right there the whole game and to have her leading the defense is huge. The last five to six minutes they were coming at us, but she was up to it.”
North Andover wasted no time getting on the board in the second minute of the game on a goal by Emma Liporto off a corner kick taken by Peyton Sportelli.
The Tanners amped up the offensive pressure midway through the half. In the 23rd minute, Billingsley was robbed by North Andover keeper Jordyn Apperti on a free kick from the 30-yard line, who made a leaping save just under the crossbar. A minute later, Alimonte sent a corner kick through the box, but it was cleared by a North Andover defender. Apperti came up big on a Tanner free kick from just outside the box, then another Peabody free kick from the 15 was cleared by a defender.
With 10:58 to go in the half, Peabody finally broke through on its next free kick after Bridget O’Connell was decked. From 35 yards out, McDonough’s shot sailed into the net just under the crossbar on the far post to make it a 1-1 game.
Olivia Gotobed got that goal back about five minutes later after splitting a couple of Tanner defenders.
With 25 minutes to go in the game, Peabody came up empty on another free kick, but some nice hustle on the part of Amber Kiricoples kept the ball alive. She got off a soft left-footed shot from the right side into the box, where McDonough was able to redirect it past a diving Apperti.
The last five minutes belonged to North Andover, but thanks to Doucette, who made three saves off dangerous balls, the Tanners walked away with a tie and an important point.
This is a huge point for us,” Desroches said. “Just huge.”
