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Swampscott stuns Peabody

Thursday, October, 11 By Jean DePlacido
Correspondent

PEABODY | In the biggest upset of the season, the Swampscott girls soccer team came into Peabody and out-slugged the previously undefeated Tanners, 5-3, yesterday afternoon in a game the hosts played without head coach Lori Escolas, who resigned on Tuesday.

Swampscott broke a 2-2 tie by scoring three goals in the final 15 minutes.

"We've been building for this," said Swampscott coach Fred Day, his team now 6-2-3. "In our last game we came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie St. Mary's. We knew we'd have a tough game, and the thought was, 'Why can't we keep this going?'" After battling to a 2-2 first half tie, Big Blue captain Azra Dzino put Swampscott on top when she broke in alone in the 65th minute and blasted a shot off the left post. Dzino followed up on her shot and tapped it into the back of the net.

With 10 minutes remaining Big Blue sophomore forward Jen Cleary scored on a high shot just over the reach of the outstretched hands of Peabody goalie Amy Perkins, and a penalty kick by sophomore midfielder Erin Langan made it a 5-2 game before Alyssa Manoogian scored for the Tanners on a direct kick with three minutes left.

Entering the game, Day was concerned about marking freshman Emily Manoogian and junior Erika Digiacomo. That combination clicked for the first two Tanner goals early in the game, but each time the Tanners went ahead Swampscott answered. "We started off slow, and they outplayed us at the start," said Peabody (9-1) interim head coach Dennis Desroches. "They stepped up defensively to prevent us from carrying out our offense. They marked our top scorers, but we still had our opportunities."

Kellie McHugh and Janelle Mazzaferro scored Swampscott's first two goals.

Five is the most goals scored against the Tanners in any game this season, and marked only the second time all year they have been down (the other a 1-0 to Danvers in a game they came back to win).

Day, who kept urging his team to keep constant pressure on the ball, singled out left back Sarah Burnham along with the defense of Alli Colson and Monique Bleau.

This was not the way Desroches had wanted to begin his head coaching stint, but now the Tanners have to regroup. "We have to go over the things we need to fix, and start another win streak," said Desroches. "We had some strong performances today from Emily Manoogian, our stopper Kathleen Dolan, and sweeper Angela Ellison. Perkins was stellar in net with 13 saves, but a PK is a very difficult shot to save."