PEABODY — The 2018 campaign was yet another good season for the Peabody boys soccer team. The Tanners finished the regular season at 11-5-3 and reached their goal of qualifying for the Division 1 North state tournament. Peabody’s postseason run ended with a 3-2 loss to Medford in the opening round.
“I thought things went well last season,” Tanners coach Stan McKeen, entering his 25th season, said. “I thought it was unfortunate that we played Medford in the first round. We lost three games to them by one goal. We played that game in downpours up at Medford. But no excuses. We had a good season.”
Peabody graduated 12 seniors from last season’s roster, seven of whom were starters. That group includes last year’s three captains in Johnny Alves, Noah Surman and Michael Tansey.
“It’s tough to replace that, no doubt,” McKeen said. “It’s tough to replace their leadership as well. It’s somewhat of a rebuilding season. We have a good nucleus coming back, so that’s a good place to start building.”
Hoping to fill their voids are this year’s senior captains — midfielder Jake Howard, defender Ben Kemp and outside-midfielder Kyle Morfis.
“I’m hoping these three guys step up and lead,” McKeen said. “They’ve all been in the program for four years.”
Also in the mix are senior striker Chris Fazollo, junior midfielder Cairo Dalifour, junior outside defensive back Nick Sablone and freshman striker Victor Maciel.
In goal, Peabody will lean on seniors Dominic Cunha and William Machado.
“They both got a lot of time last year,” McKeen said. “I think that’s a fairly strong point of ours. No one has won the job outright yet. But the experience will help us there. I think defense, goaltending and adding a multitude of strikers will benefit us. We relied on Johnny Alves last season. Other people are going to have to step up this year.”
If there’s one area Peabody isn’t too strong in, it’s varsity experience. McKeen hopes the camaraderie the Tanners have built during the preseason will work to their advantage.
“A lot of the kids don’t have a lot of varsity experience,” McKeen said. “I’m hoping the nucleus of the kids that did play varsity, along with the captains, will lead the other kids. We have a good mix. A lot of these kids played together on JV, but playing JV and varsity are different ball games. They’ve worked pretty well together.
“Things have looked pretty good. We have two scrimmages this weekend- one Friday at Fenwick and then Saturday we play Triton. Tryouts went well. We had 72 kids try out. We had to cut 11. We did what we had to do. Hopefully it all pans out. I think these kids work well together.”
The Northeastern Conference will look a bit different this fall. The Greater Boston League teams (Everett, Malden, Medford, Somerville, Revere) are no longer part of the NEC. McKeen feels its anybody’s league.
“We’re playing everybody this year, it’s not just one side of the league,” McKeen said. “It’s hard to say from one year to the next. Beverly was pretty good last year. Danvers is always good. Marblehead and Swampscott were decent. You just don’t know from one year to the next. Gloucester’s the other team in our division, they were OK. I think our side of the conference is pretty wide open.”
Peabody opens the season Sept. 9 when the Tanners travel to Danvers. Peabody’s non-league games include tilts against Billerica, Medford and St. Mary’s.
