Peabody’s Jillian Arigo uses a slide tackle to kick the ball away from Swampscott’s Jaymie Caponegro. Photo: Bob Roche
By Katie Morrison
SWAMPSCOTT — It’s not easy to go undefeated for an entire season, especially not in a league such as the Northeastern Conference.
The Swampscott girls soccer team found that out Sunday afternoon at Jackson Park as it was handed its first loss, 3-0, at the hands of Peabody.
The Tanners controlled every aspect of the game in a meeting between two of the league’s elite teams. The Tanners were physical, and controlled the tempo of the game from start to finish.
However, Swampscott coach Ken Leeder said afterward that a loss like this can be the catalyst a team needs to kick its game into another gear.
“It’s very hard to go undefeated, and I don’t know if that would have been a good thing anyway,” Leeder said. “It was a well-played game, and we put more pressure on (the Tanners) in the second half, but Peabody is a very good team.”
The Tanners can relate to what Leeder said. Peabody suffered its only loss of the season last week against Acton-Boxborough, a non-league opponent. That defeat helped the Tanners see what they needed to work on, and even gave them some confidence, said coach Dennis Desroches.
“I think we were pretty confident coming in because we’ve had a great week of soccer,” Desroches said. “We played A-B, one of the best teams in the state, and I really think we should have taken that game (Peabody lost, 1-0). I thought overall, we’ve been playing a great style of soccer over the past week, and our kids have been playing hard from the goalie all the way out to the forwards.”
One of the takeaways from that loss, however, was Peabody wasn’t creating enough second-chance opportunities. Sunday, it was clear that finishing those chances was in the forefront of the Tanners’ minds.
“You take the A-B game, and we were very upset with ourselves for not finishing,” Desroches said. “In practice we really focused on finishing opportunities, keeping the ball alive in front of the goal. They were able to do that today.”
Peabody’s first goal, scored in the 18th minute, was a great example of finishing. Marissa Orlando launched a cross pass from the right side, Deanna Ruggiero only needed to get a piece of it to redirect it past Swampscott goalie Nikki Rosa.
Swampscott tried to respond on offense, but the Tanners wouldn’t allow its forwards to set up a good shot. The Big Blue’s best chance of the first half came in the 31st minute. Sam Agresti wove through the Peabody defense and fired in a shot that the Peabody keeper had to dive to bat away. Peabody survived an ensuing throw-in deep in their territory and a corner kick soon after, but neutralized the threat and kept Swampscott from creating more scoring chances for the rest of the half.
Three minutes later, Peabody tacked on its second goal. Katherine Scacchi threw in the ball deep in Swampscott’s end and the ball squirted in front of the net. Rosa tipped it out, but the ball stayed tied up in front of the net. Katie Wallace settled the ball in front and found the back of the net to put Peabody up 2-0.
“To be able to get to those loose balls and create havoc in front of the goal, keep the ball alive, that gave us extra opportunities,” Desroches said, “and I think that won it for us today.”
The score could have been more lopsided if it wasn’t for the impressive play of Rosa in net, who Leeder said was “outstanding” Sunday. Rosa came up with some huge saves for Swampscott, but the Tanners were just too physical and too relentless in front of the net.
They played that way on defense as well, and Leeder acknowledged that kind of play was why the Big Blue couldn’t get much going on offense.
The Tanners added a third goal with about 25 minutes to play, as Emily Nelson picked up a loose ball in the center and buried it in the corner of the net.
For Peabody, the team is riding high as it looks forward to its fourth game in six days, Tuesday against another NEC powerhouse, Marblehead. The road doesn’t get easier for Swampscott either, as it takes on Danvers Tuesday.