MARBLEHEAD — In what looked like a win for Peabody’s girls soccer team, was not. With five minutes to go, never-say-die Marblehead found its equalizer. Call it a 1-1 tie between the Magicians and Tanners at Piper Field on Wednesday.
Back to that tying goal. Marblehead’s Callie Gilmore put in a header off a beautiful feed from Courtney Hitscherich off a corner kick, tying the action and sending the home crowd into a frenzy. Better yet, it was Gilmore’s fourth goal in four games.
“We gave up an early goal, we outshot them, 20-4, and we were able to come back. There is certainly no quit in our girls,” said Marblehead coach Lisa Wales. “The effort was there. We just couldn’t finish.”
The Tanners, indeed, scored early in the first half. Brooke Lomasney sent a strike to the top-right corner for early momentum (1-0).
“Great kick by Brooke Lomasney to take that shot. It has been something that we have been working on,” said Peabody coach Andrew Douglass. “I thought we played really well. We created a goal out of nothing early in the first half. We are a defensive-minded team that struggles to get forward sometimes, so it’s good to get up and try to fight for something.”
Truth be told, it was all Tanners until one corner kick changed the outcome. Douglass added, “We were a bit unlucky at the end to give up that corner kick.”
“But, I thought we held it in really well, Ally Bettencourt was unbelievable as our center back and our goalkeeper (Alessandra Forgione) keeps us in every game,” he said.
Although the Tanners were oh, so close to a win, Douglass remained focused on what’s next.
“Of course I would love to get a 1-0 win, but a 1-1 tie is all right. We have to keep fighting and fight through that final whistle. Giving away a corner kick in the last five minutes is tough, but we will get the next one,” he said.
Late-game heroics aside, Wales looks forward to turning draws into wins.
“We study a lot of game film, so we will look at that closely and see where we can improve and work our practices around that,” she said.
The Tanners host Hamilton-Wenham on Saturday, while the Magicians head to Beverly on Monday for a date with the Panthers.
Owen Finn is a student at Endicott College studying journalism
