BELMONT — A lack of scoring chances came back to haunt the No. 15 Marblehead boys soccer team in a 2-0 loss at No. 7 Belmont in the Division 2 North quarterfinal Saturday night.
The Magicians prepared for their toughest test this season against a well-rounded Marauders team, but Belmont proved to be too much to handle.
“That’s a good team,” Marblehead coach Scott Laramie said. “They controlled the middle on us for a while. We were hoping to weather the storm for a while so we could maybe get it in the second half, but they popped one in early.
“We struggled. We struggled with creating things and getting things out wide. But (Belmont) is quick, they’re big and they’re strong. And that does limit our game a little bit when you can’t get going in the first half.”
Despite the loss, Marblehead’s defense continued its solid play. Goalkeeper Xander Lohan made a handful of key saves to keep the game close down the stretch.
“It’s been top notch all year,” Laramie said of the defense. “John Hecht, Xander Lohan, Aiden Maloney and Will Hancock have been tremendous. We’re here because of their performance, especially in this tournament.
“That’s what we do. We try to start defense out. We rode that wave for a while. But we ran into a better team (Saturday).”
Belmont was all over the Magicians from the start and scored in the first 10 minutes. Theo Kargere controlled a crossing pass in front of Marblhead’s net and dished a pass over to Jon Brabo, who scored to give the Marauders a 1-0 lead.
That set the tone for the rest of the half. Belmont had a handful of chances the rest of the way but Lohan and his defense held strong.
It looked like Marblehead found some new life to start the second half. The Magicians got some pressure but didn’t manage a shot on net before Belmont took things back over.
Midway through the second half, Belmont earned a corner chance and Kargere placed a perfect ball in front of the net for a header from Brabo to stretch the lead to 2-0.
Marblehead moved up some players to get some late pressure but couldn’t cash in to make things interesting in the final minutes. The Magicians’ season ends at 10-8-3.
“Our seniors were a great bunch of kids,” Laramie said. “You couldn’t be happier for having them. I’ve seen them all since they were freshmen. It really is a tight-knit group and you can see it. We’re going to miss them but it was good having them.”
