NORTH ANDOVER – F. Scott Fitzgerald said that there are no second acts in American lives. The North Andover girls soccer team is probably happy that there are second halves in American high school soccer.Scoring both goals of the game after intermission, North Andover defeated Saugus, 2-0, in MIAA Division 2 North first-round action at Joe Walsh Field on Friday.”We were just a little step slower getting to the ball in front of the North Andover net,” Saugus coach Ted Moriello said. “We waited for it to come to us. Most times, it didn’t.”The Sachems, seeded 13th of 15 teams, finish the season 9-8-3.”We needed to get more bodies forward,” Moriello said. “We didn’t have enough to sustain the attack.”North Andover advances to the quarterfinal round on Tuesday. The Scarlet Knights could face another Northeastern Conference opponent, as their next foe is the winner of today’s Swampscott-Wakefield game.Despite the disappointing ending, Saugus did play the No. 4 Scarlet Knights to a scoreless tie at halftime. North Andover coach Bud McCarthy didn’t like the way his team began the game.”We came out pretty flat,” McCarthy said. “I was a little disappointed. In the first half, we didn’t control very well and we didn’t move well. In the second half, we played better.”North Andover (15-3-1) also started scoring. At the 30:08 mark of the second half, the Scarlet Knights got on the board with Jackie Sullivan’s goal on a corner kick against Sachems netminder Lauren Garchinsky.”It’s 24 feet across that net,” Moriello said. “It’s hard to defend it all.”North Andover got some insurance when, at the 19:22 mark, DeeDee Fagan scored off a Jenn Pino assist.While Saugus couldn’t muster any scoring against Scarlet Knights goalie Maya Miatkowski, several Sachems performed well, including sophomore Kaleigh Evans, whom Moriello called “a good player, a good scorer,” as well as Alissa Wilkie and Belinda Cresta-Devine. Moriello also described freshman Gabby Cogliano as “a fan favorite” who “looks like a senior.”Regarding Garchinsky, Moriello said, “I think she played great. I think she did. She came out when needed and made good saves.”McCarthy had praise for the Sachem players he knew from the Bay State Games as the North team coach – Wilkie (“God, I can’t forget her”), Jill Herr (“She did not play for us. She tried out. We really wanted her”) and Cresta-Devine.”Saugus played tough,” he said. “We knew they were strong defensively.”However, McCarthy also saluted several players on his own defensive end, including Lauren Bova (“a real good, strong game,” he said) and Miatkowski.”(Miatkowski) did fine,” he said. “She did what she needed to do. She positioned herself well.”Fitzgerald, scribe of the Jazz Age, described his contemporaries as “boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”For Saugus, however, the future looks promising after a solid defensive effort and contributions from underclassmen against a formidable foe in its tourney finale.