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Zach Karalis lofted a 25-yard pass to Mike Skarbelis, and the sophomore finished off a beautiful goal with seven minutes left in the game to give No. 5 North Andover a  2-1 comeback victory over No. 12 Dracut in the Division 2 North first round.

North Andover boys soccer made its final season in the Cape Ann League special, clinching at least a share of the CAL Division 1 title with a 4-1 victory over Rockport last night.

North Andover's defense stood out in a 0-0 boys soccer tie with Danvers. Connor Beaudreau, Dan Connelly, Zach Karelis,  Dennis Graef and Eric Rieidel all played well for the Knights (10-2-3).

Matt Bitchell scored in the first half and Georgetown surived a late flurry as the Royals snapped North Andover's 10-game winning streak, 1-0. Ben Brock, Andrew Savage, Andrew Nowak and Patrick Slackanchored the winning defense.

First-half goals five minutes apart from Tim Chiang and Tory Gabriello got North Andover rolling toward its 10th straight soccer victory, 3-0 over Hamilton-Wenham. Two outside defenders, Connor Boudreau and Dennis Graef, played well in the shutout effort.

Normally a defenseman, Eagle-Tribune basketball All-Star Zach Karalis scored two goals to help North Andover roll past Newburyport 9-0. Karalis had one goal on the season heading into the game.

He’s already been in the Eastern Massachusetts Soccer Hall of Fame for six years, so his legacy has been in place for a while. But North Andover boys soccer coach Bill Tarbox joined a select club when the Scarlet Knights beat North Reading 3-1 yesterday. It was his 400th career win. He’s 278-87-53 in 21 years at North Andover and went 122-113-31 in 18 years at Greater Lawrence Tech. And don’t rule out 500 wins. He volunteers at the Guilmette School in Lawrence and when a girl there asked him his age. He asked her, “How old do you think I am.” Her reply? 42. For the record, he is only 61 (62 on Thursday) and hasn’t lost a step. This year’s club is 7-1-2 and his Knights teams have qualified for the postseason for all 21 years he’s been coach. “It means a lot personally,” he said of the milestone. “I’ve always enjoyed doing it. I enjoy all the kids I’ve worked with.” Tri-captain Zach Karalis said its been a pleasure playing for Tarbox. “He’s a great guy and definitely knows his soccer,” said Karalis, a basketball and soccer star for the Knights. “He also wants us to do well in the classroom and in life. He’s a good guy and a fun guy to play for.” The Knights knew this one was important. “He came up to me and said it meant a lot to him,” said Karalis. “It’s a big accomplishment and he was proud of it.” Young North Andoverites grow up looking forward to playing for him. “My cousins Tom and Dave Gaffny played for him,” said Karalis. “I wanted to get to high school and play for him.” Tarbox, an Andover native who has lived in North Andover for years, picked up the game at now defunct Ricker College in Maine. The Tarbox name is synomous with both schools he has coached at. His late father, Fred, a prominent local businessman, was one of the movers and shakers behind the founding of Greater Lawrence Tech. Bill started the soccer program and taught there 34 years, before retiring three years ago. Tarbox and Andover’s Dave Amundsen helped fuel the growth of soccer in the region with their Andover Soccer Camp, which began in 1976. Tarbox passed the love of the game on to his kids. Fred starred at North Andover and UMass Lowell and is the girls coach at Haverhill. Jana is the former coach at PMA.  

Senior goalie Mike Moroney came out of the net in the second half to score his first career goal and Evan Dudney contributed a hat trick and an assist as North Andover blitzed Manchester Essex 6-0. Coach Bill Tarbox will go for his 400th career win when the Knights are at North Reading tomorrow.

North Andover rang up its fourth soccer win in a row, beating Pentucket, 4-2. Solid efforts came from midfielders David Rose and Dan McGarvey as well as center defender Dan Connelly. Eric Riedel fed a perfect goal mouth pass from the right side across to Mike Skarbelis for the Knights' second goal. Trevor Collins played well defensively from his center midfield position for the Sachems.

Mike Maroney's save on a penalty shot 30 seconds into play injected energy into his North Andover teammates, who responded to down Haverhill, 4-0. Eric Riedel scored twice for the Knights, once on a rebound of his own shot and the other on a looping shot over the Hillie goalie.