The Marblehead Magicians girls varsity soccer team took home a 1-0 victory in their league match against the Peabody Veterans Memorial High School Tanners at Piper Field Friday evening.
“It’s a strange situation,” said Marblehead Head Coach, Lisa Wales, postgame. “I’m disappointed because we outshot them, we controlled the play, but we couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Marblehead came out of the gates in dominating fashion, consistently keeping the ball in the opposition half of the pitch throughout the opening phases of the match. The first chance of the night came off the boot of senior Liv Carlson, forcing Peabody’s keeper to make a strong save to keep the score level.
CURRENT PHOTOS / LUCA TEDESCO
Sydney Ball came mere inches from hitting a 20-yard screamer to put the hosts ahead in the 27th minute, but clanged the ball off the woodwork and out for a goal kick.
The opening goal of the match came from Callie Gilmore just a few moments later. The junior controlled a quick pass from Liv Carlson before striking it into the bottom left corner of the goal to give Marblehead the lead with 11 minutes to play in the first half.
Peabody was able to break through the Magicians’ defensive line late in the second half, but a chase down tackle by senior Captain Ashley Mortensen allowed Marblehead to hold onto the lead heading to the break.
The Magicians struggled to start the second term, but seemed to come alive after about ten minutes. The hosts kept the pressure on the Tanner defense, picking up high quality chance after high quality chance, but failing to convert.
Peabody’s McKenzie Miller nearly brought the match back to level pegging in the 68th minute, but her shot would end up rolling harmlessly past the far post.
The visitors continued to push into the Marblehead half in the dying moments of the match, but time would run out on the comeback attempt, giving the Magicians their seventh victory on the year.
Following the game, Coach Wales said that she was disappointed, not with the result, but with the scoreline.
“The power rankings are based on multiple things, but the most points you can get out of that is when you score three goals,” she said. “We needed to win by three. If we play a team like Peabody, which is struggling this year, and they have a low opponent rating, it doesn’t help us. We have to win by three and then work from there.”
Junior midfielder Lucy McDonald said that the Peabody defense seemed to be well prepeared heading into the return leg of their two-game season series.
“Normally we like to play out wide and cut in and cross the ball,” said McDonald. “They were giving us the space for that today, but there was also a lot of open space in the middle.”
The unbeaten Magicians will take a day to recover before preparations begin for an away day at Gloucester on Monday, the first game of a triple match week.
