PEABODY — The Peabody boys soccer team bounced back from a two-goal halftime deficit and forced a 2-2 tie with Somerville Wednesday night at Coley Lee Field.
Johnny Alves led the way for the Tanners with two goals while Josh Atemkeng and Noah Surman each had one assist. Peabody coach Stan McKeen was more than happy to grab a point from a game against a tough Somerville team.
“What can I say about Johnny? That’s goals number 21 and 22 for him and good assists by Josh and Noah,” McKeen said. “This was a big game for us. It’s like a win for us. They have kind of dominated the league for many years. That’s like a loss to them, believe me.”
Somerville came out aggressive in the first half and dominated possession while the Tanners couldn’t get anything going offensively.
“They controlled the game,” McKeen said of the first half. “We were flat, we weren’t being aggressive and we weren’t going after and winning the 50-50 balls. They took it to us in that first half, no question.”
Peabody found itself heading into the locker room at halftime down 2-0 and it looked like it might be a long night for the Tanners.
“We went in at half time and I said, ‘Hey if you guys just don’t want to show up in the second half we’ll see but I know you can play with them,'” McKeen said. “But I told them ‘you’ve got to go out and show me that you can play with them.’ That picked them up and getting that first goal early obviously uplifted our team.”
Just 4:30 into the second half, Alves provided the spark the Tanners desperately needed. After gaining possession Alves slipped past two Somerville defenders before firing a shot that found the back of net to cut the Somerville lead to 2-1.
After the goal, the Peabody offense came to life and created several more chances than it did in the first half. However, the Tanners were unable to finish before 15 minutes remained in the game.
“In the last 15 to 20 minutes we put the pressure on them and the ball stayed down their end,” McKeen said. “I just felt we were going to get that equalizer at some point.”
After two failed corner kicks and a few failed throw-ins in the Somerville end of the field, the tying- goal came with just 5:30 to play.
Surman dished a pass to Alves who was immediately pressured by a Somerville defender at the top of the box. Alves managed to just barely get a shot off with his right foot that slipped by the Somerville goalkeeper to the left of the net and tied the game.
From there both defenses held strong in the final minutes to keep the score at 2-2.
“That’s a point for us and that’s great,” McKeen said. “They beat us the first time in Somerville 2-0. I mean we’ve played close games with them but we just didn’t show up in the first half tonight.”
The tough opponents don’t stop for Peabody (10-3-3) as the Tanners host Beverly Friday (7:30) and Medford Monday (4) to close the regular season.
“This series of games will be a good walk into the tournament for us,” McKeen said. “Playing good team, that’s what you want to do down the stretch.”
