PEABODY — The Peabody boys soccer team faces a tough task this fall. With the majority of its goal-scorers graduated, the Tanners look to rely on returning and younger players to find success.
Last season ended with a postseason loss to Newton South in the Division 1 state tournament, and a 13-4-3 record.
“We lost 2-0 in the state tournament. We had a ton of shots, but we couldn’t get the ball in the net,” Coach Stan McKeen said. “It was an unfortunate ending since we scored a lot of goals throughout the season, but we got shut out in the tournament game.”
This year’s club comes with new faces as 11 Tanners graduated.
“We lost the leading scorer in the league in John Arruda who had 29 goals and 10 assists,” McKeen said. “We also lost Victor Maciel, who was the leading scorer his first three years and then tore his ACL four games into last season. Bruno Correia and Ryan Alves also graduated, who were big scorers for us.”
Peabody looks to run-and-gun in the midfield, and from the defensive end.
“Our defense and midfield should be good. It’s the matter of where we are going to get our scoring from,” McKeen said. “About 50 goals were scored by guys who played up front. Resurrecting the offense will be the biggest challenge this year.”
When asked which players will need to step up, McKeen pointed to his four captains: A.J. Forte, Eli Loring, Aidan Pais, and Yanni Pappas.
“Forte plays as a center midfielder. He’s an outstanding athlete and an outstanding soccer player,” McKeen said. “Unbelievable skills, and I call him the energizer bunny because he never gets tired. He’s going to be a big contributor in the middle of the field.”
“Loring is another captain who is another defender, but we may look at him to play up top,” McKeen said. “Pappas is the anchor of the defense in addition to Pais, who both are captains who will be big for us.”
In addition to captainship, McKeen said he liked what he saw from goalie Dylan Flanagan during summer league.
“Our defense looked good and our goaltender Dylan Flanagan played well in the summer,” McKeen said. “He played a couple of games last season with varsity, so we’re hoping for him to have a solid year.”
McKeen, who watched summer league games from the sidelines, said you can’t read too much into them since some teams only play underclassmen.
One thing Peabody won’t be short of this season: numbers.
“We had our biggest signups since COVID-19,” McKeen said. “We had 74 kids who signed up for soccer this year. We’ll definitely have three teams this year.”
Despite being in rebuild mode, McKeen remains positive for the upcoming season, starting with tryouts August 21.
“I’m assuming we’ll rebuild and have a good season,” McKeen said. “I feel we have a good nucleus coming back.”
