NORTH ANDOVER — The No. 10 Peabody girls soccer team saw its season come to an end Monday night at No. 7 North Andover, falling 3-0 in the first round of the Division 1 North state tournament.
Peabody fell behind in the first half after allowing a goal on a direct kick, and despite dominating possession in the second half couldn’t find the back of the net to even things up.
“We gave up that direct kick unfortunately at the beginning,” Peabody coach Dennis Desroches said. “But the girls really came out on fire in the second half. We were down in their zone I’m going to say 25, 30 minutes of that half. With corner kicks, play backs, direct kicks and nice plays to the box. Unfortunately we couldn’t finish.”
The Tanners started the night on the offensive. Peabody had two corner kicks and a free kick in the first five minutes of play, but couldn’t make the most of it.
North Andover had no problem making the most of its chances and took a 1-0 lead on a free kick before the half.
Peabody looked like the better team for a majority of the second half. Contributions up and down the field helped the Tanners create plenty of pressure but once again they couldn’t capitalize.
The Tanners looked like the better team with that pressure in the second half.
“Madeleine Scacchi was winning 50-50 balls,” Desroches said. “Aja Alimonti was sending balls down. I’ll tell you, Kiara Campbell stepped in at striker and I don’t know how many chances she kept alive. She created a corner for us, had a nice cross to the middle. Kiara really stepped up for us in the second half. Taylor Bettencourt kept a lot of balls alive and she created a corner. The pressure going forward was awesome.”
But the pressure could only last for so long. North Andover added its second goal of the night with just under 13 minutes remaining. From there, Peabody had to play more aggressive to try to climb back into things and that opened the door for North Andover’s final goal in the closing minutes.
“If one of our earlier chances goes in it’s a whole different ball game because I think as soon as they had that quick transition out for that (second) goal, that defeated us,” Desroches said. “That was their only shot to that point in the second half.”
The Tanners end their season with an 11-8 record but have plenty to be proud of after battling through some key defensive injuries.
“This is not to make excuses but a lot of circumstances have hit us toward the end of this year,” Desroches said. “Losing Colleen Crotty to a concussion, that’s my sweeper. Samantha Simmons stepped in for her. Emma Bloom stepped in when we lost our goalie Shelby Doucette (broken jaw). Kids really stepped up. They might not be the most comfortable positions for them but they stepped in and were awesome. They have nothing to hang their heads about.”
Peabody graduates plenty of strong leaders in its senior class, including Doucette and Crotty, who will be missed going forward.
“They were great leaders,” Desroches said. “Unfortunately Crotty and Shelby couldn’t finish their years. Those are two senior captains. They’re great leaders, they lead with their voices when they’re not on the field. Then you have the senior class that are great leaders on the field. Hats off to them, we wish them well and they led the way for us.”
