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D'Addario's OT strike powers Peabody to playoff win

Wednesday, May, 28 By Matt Jenkins
Staff writer

PEABODY | For a moment no one, including Peabody's Mark D'Addario, knew where the ball was.

Weymouth's short-stick midfielder, Mike Guilfoy, was attached to D'Addario's hip as the Tanners' middie gradually curled toward the visitor's goal. As D'Addario neared the point of firing, Guilfoy lifted his stick up and over the head of D'Addario and slashed down on his opponent's stick.

It's the type of check that usually jars the ball loose. Only this time it didn't | and D'Addario was the first to realize it.

After a slight hesitation, D'Addario delivered the game-winning goal with 2:58 left in the second overtime, lifting Peabody to an 11-10 victory in a Division 1 East preliminary game.

The 10th-seeded Tanners will play at No. 7 Andover Saturday (time TBA).

"Mark fought through the check because the kid came down and had him. If the kid just followed through on his check, he probably would have stripped the ball," Peabody coach Kevin Houlden said. "D'Addario got the ball back, re-cocked and got his shot off. It wasn't pretty, but it certainly got the job done."

The goal was met with some protest by the Weymouth players and coaching staff. They asked for a stick check to make sure D'Addario was using a legal stick, but after a brief discussion the referees ruled against it.

"Everybody expected the ball to come out," Weymouth coach Rob McCarthy said. "There was a little hesitation and our guys stopped. (D'Addario) knew he still had it and made a great shot."

The game-winner wasn't D'Addario's only great shot.

In a game that literally went back and forth from the start, Peabody (14-5) needed a late goal just to send the game into overtime.

Two straight fourth quarter goals from Weymouth had the Wildcats sitting pretty with a 10-9 advantage and just over three minutes to play.

Peabody regained possession and set up D'Addario on an isolation play down the stretch. His unassisted tally was his first goal of the game and it knotted the score at 10-10 with 2:46 to go.

Both teams had chances in the first overtime | especially the Tanners, who couldn't capitalize on two man-up situations in the first four-minute overtime session. The way Weymouth (10-9) played, it very easily could have headed home with a minor upset.

"I thought all year we were a good team," McCarthy said. "I don't think people expected us as a 23-seed to come in here and play like this. Everybody played really well; it just stinks that we lost."

In such a topsy-turvy game (there were five lead changes), scoring was a little more difficult for the Tanners, who were playing without sophomore midfielder Derek West. The Northeastern Conference's Offensive Player of the Year, West broke a team rule and was forced to sit out yesterday.

D'Addario, Rich Grillo and Mike Pennachio picked up the scoring slack for the Tanners, combining for nine goals. D'Addario had two goals and one assist, Grillo scored four goals (all in the first half), and Pennachio had three goals and one assist. Mike Martin and Mark Jesi added one goal each.

"We've come together as a team and played tremendous," Houlden said. "The emergence of the team concept with Grillo, Zack Brown, Michael Martin and Luke Moran | all those guys that at the beginning of the year you may not have counted on to be scorers | have come up gigantic for us."

Ryan Barney and Derrick Healy each scored three goals for Weymouth, while Guilfoy, John Marsters, Joe Guiducci and Zack LaFavre each had one.

Senior goalie Justin Famigletti, the NEC Defensive Player of the Year, was also outstanding for Peabody. He made several key saves in crucial moments, including two big stops in the first overtime.

Grillo, meanwhile, carried the Tanner offense in the first half.

"He's on the field 44 of the 48 minutes, and his last step is as quick as his first," Houlden said. "He's a threat every time he touches the ball, and defensively he's got great anticipation."

Peabody had some difficulty clearing the ball, and the Tanners will need to take better care of it on the offensive end to stay competitive with Andover.

"We've got our work cut out for us," Houlden said. "We certainly can't make mistakes like we did today clearing the ball, because Andover will bury us if we do that. We have to take care of the ball; that's No. 1."