DANVERS — After falling behind just three minutes into Tuesday’s Division 1 North opener against Peabody , the St. John’s soccer team found itself in a do-or-die scenario.
But the Eagles rose to the occasion.
In a tale of two halves, No. 8 St. John’s tightened up defensively, found its footing offensively and scored three second-half goals en route to a 3-1 win at Fred Glatz Field.
“We just stuck the course,” Eagles coach Dave Crowell said of his team’s performance in the second half. “I thought the kids worked a little harder. I also felt Peabody may have tired toward the end because we had so much possession. When you’re chasing all the time, it’s hard.”
Zach Vlachos, Ethan Ambrosh and Owen Siewert each scored one goal for the Eagles, who’ll host No. 16 Andover in Thursday’s (3) quarterfinal.
“I saw Andover play,” Crowell said. “They’re going to be physical. They’re big, they have a big throw-in like Peabody, which gives us trouble. But we’ll play whoever comes along.”
Edward Santos’ early goal gave the Tanners a swift 1-0 lead. No. 9 Peabody’s offense couldn’t keep pace the rest of the way and its defense battled fatigue in the final minutes.
“I thought we played a great first half,” Tanners coach Stan McKeen said. “We moved the ball well. We seemed to counter everything they were trying to do. In the second half we were a little fatigued as the half went on.
“But our defense was phenomenal. Nick Sablone and all four of our defenders were phenomenal.”
The Tanners end the season at 13-6.
“When we started the season did I think we’d be 13-5 going into the tournament? No, to be honest,” McKeen said. “We lost 12 players from last year but six, seven of them were starters and played well. I was hoping we’d have a .500 record and make the tournament. But they exceeded my expectations.”
Peabody made the most of a slow Eagles start and put itself on the board. Santos, using his speed, created an opening and found the back of the net with Eagles goalie Joey Waterman out of his post. In the blink of an eye, St. John’s found itself trailing 1-0.
“It was supposed to be the other way around,” Crowell said. “The whole idea was we were going to get the first one and kind of take the wind out of their sails. Clearly that didn’t happen. But I like how we grinded and kept at it. Like a lot of our season, it was a tale of two halves.”
The Tanners held down the fort through the rest of the half. St. John’s made its share of runs at Peabody goalie Dom Cunha but nothing broke through in the first 40 minutes. Peabody led 1-0 at halftime.
The Eagles found their openings in the second half. Cunha preserved the 1-0 lead just two minutes into the half with a leg save. Vlachos scored 20 seconds later, knotting the score at 1-1. It was all St. John’s from there.
With 15:02 to play, Vlachos fed Ambrosh a perfect pass and the latter cashed in to put St. John’s up 2-1. Siewert’s goal with 6:32 to go cemented St. John’s 3-1 win.
“Dom made some great saves,” McKeen said. “We didn’t have enough offensive attack. Even in the first half, we had a few opportunities. But not in the second half. St. John’s is a good team and we gave them a game. I knew it was going to be tough coming in here and beating them.”
