PEABODY — The Peabody boys lacrosse team kept its hot streak alive Tuesday afternoon, rolling to a 10-1 victory over Salem in a Northeastern Conference bout at Coley Lee Field.
With the victory, the Tanners have now won three games in a row and have gotten back above .500 on the season.
“The guys are playing well and we really have a lot of confidence going right now,” said Peabody coach Leo Shidler. “We’ve got a lot of guys on this team who don’t have a ton of experience, so to see things finally starting to click and become more natural for them is great to see.”
Freshman Jason Houlden led the Tanners with two goals and one assist — scoring his first career varsity goal in the process. Six other players — senior Jordan Tompkins, junior Connor Anezis, junior John Minichillo, junior Trotman Smith, junior Ashton Sousa and freshman Caio Santos — also scored their first career varsity goals in the victory. Junior Matthew Lindstrom and sophomore Donald Cavanaugh each scored one goal as well, while freshman Derek Collins notched one assist. Freshman goalie Aidan Haight made seven saves to pick up the win in net.
“There are a lot of guys on this team, from freshmen to seniors, who don’t have a lot of varsity playing experience,” said Shidler. “When we get opportunities like this to get a lot of guys in the game and see a lot of guys score their first varsity points, that’s a huge thing. With the junior varsity landscape the way it is, it’s important for these guys to see quality minutes in quality games.”
The lone goal for Salem came from freshman Michael Curtin, who netted an unassisted tally early in the third quarter.
Peabody controlled the play from the early minutes of the game, scoring less than two minutes in and rolling to a 7-0 lead by the halftime break. Even after Curtin scored for Salem to get some momentum going, the Tanners quickly answered back and carried play all the way until the final whistle.
Salem (0-9) travels to Somerville Wednesday afternoon (4).
Peabody (7-5) hosts Masconomet Thursday night (7) back at Coley Lee Field.
“The guys have been looking forward to this one because that Masconomet game was probably the worst game we’ve played all year and the guys want another crack at it,” said Shidler. “Those are the games that really test you and really make you better if you want to be a tournament team, and I think the guys want to show that they can do that.”
The Masconomet game will kick off a tough stretch of games to close the season, with the Tanners also taking on Marblehead and non-league foe Manchester-Essex over the final five games of the year.
“We know we have a long way to go to be on the level of teams like that, so we need to work hard in practice and just remain focused,” said Shidler. “Practice is where we’re going to get better, and we’ve just got to keep plugging away.”
