PEABODY — The Saugus field hockey came into enemy territory Tuesday afternoon and inched closer to the .500 mark at 5-7 after a 4-1 win over an undermanned Peabody squad struggling with the injury bug.
The Sachems scored their goals in bunches. Angelina Dow and Julia Strout staked the Sachems to a 2-0 lead in a span of just 49 seconds midway through the first quarter. After Peabody senior captain Christopher Troncoso cut the Tanners’ deficit to 2-1 with a little more than three minutes left in the third, Strout and Dow struck again early in the fourth quarter just 1:40 apart to put the game out of reach.
“Our team has really been coming together and are seeing great team chemistry right now,” Saugus coach Julie Champigny said. “I’m really proud of them. They crashed the net hard, which is something we’ve been working on and they came back to balls, which really made a difference today.”
Peabody dressed only 12 players and had only one sub, a factor that caught up to the Tanners according to Peabody coach Jillian Tobin.
“We’re definitely struggling with injuries and having only one sub really hurts,” Tobin said. “They can’t really run onto every ball so that’s kind of catching us a little bit like today. We played better in the second half, but Saugus broke down our plays. With no subs you can’t really move things around, which made us very predictable, which worked in Saugus’ favor”
With less than seven minutes to go in the first quarter, Saugus had its first corner. Sydney Ferreira drilled a shot from point blank range saved by Peabody senior goalie Sophie Kassis (8 saves). 20 seconds later on another corner, Ferreira fed Down in traffic in front, who slammed it home to give Saugus a 1-0 lead.
Less than a minute later, Audrey Comeau found Strout to double the Sachem’s lead to 2-0 with 5:51 left in the quarter.
After a scoreless second quarter, Peabody started the third quarter with some energy, generating a few good scoring opportunities. Troncoso finally cashed in at the 3:29 mark. He elected to dribble toward goal on a free hit from the 25-yard line. Saugus goalie Jordyn Ripley-Deminski (4 saves) turned away Troncoso’s initial shot, but the rebound landed on Troncoso’s stick. He tucked it home to make it a 2-1 game going into the final 15 minutes.
“Chris is just a phenomenal athlete especially considering he’s only two years into the game,” Tobin said. “He made some good runs today, but they defended him pretty well. They knew where he was going.”
It didn’t take long for the Sachems to answer. Strout pounced on a rebound off the stick of Ferreira with about 10 minutes to go. With a little more than eight minutes to play, Saugus bumped the lead to 4-1 when a rebound off a corner found its way to Dow, who slammed it home.
Champigny said a big factor in Saugus’ play was the Sachems ability to win the 50-50 balls and their containment of Troncoso.
“We worked on winning the 50-50 balls yesterday and they showed it today,” she said. “And we played him (Troncoso) really well and didn’t back down at all. Overall, they all played a really good game.”
Champigny praised the play of Ripley-Deminski, Ferreira, Dow, Lilah Sullivan and Meri Mogauro
“Jordan has really come into her own this season,” Champigny said. “Sydney on defense has been a game changer for us and Angelina has always been controlling the field. Lilah is doing some really great things and Meri is controlling the field and has unmatched speed.”
Tobin was pleased with a couple of her younger players – eighth-grader Natalia Targett and freshman Amaya Francher (defensive save) – as well as senior captain Karley O’Connor and junior Elizabeth Moore (2 defensive saves) , who was forced to move from midfield to defense.
“Natalie is one of our stronger players and is only an eighth grader, but she had a very strong game today,” Tobin said. “She and Amaya are new to the game, but are key. Elizabeth made some impact plays especially considering that was a new position. She was a rock for us today. Karley’s chemistry with Chris is amazing.”
The Tanners (2-10) will honor their seniors Wednesday prior to their game at home against Malden at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s any given Sunday. You can never count anyone out,” Tobin said. “I know it’s going to be a battle.”
The Sachems (5-7) are back in action at Danvers on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
“They beat us earlier in the year 4-0. I think that was one of our only games that we didn’t play well,” Champigny said. “I think our team has come really far and is ready.”
