High school girls soccer

[Unregistered]

Was at the game and neither team deserved to win. Very boring and poorly played game. Ab girl deserved.a red She threw a punch and kicked the other girl. Not a very smart decision. Peabody vs chelmsford in the finals...whos going to win? I think peabody has the
upper hand, but chelmsford has been playing well

Peabody fan here & agree that it was a very poorly played game by both teams. Also agree that red card was deserved. She got fouled (ref did give Peabody girl a yellow for that), but made the stupid mistake of retaliating with at least one kick (thought I saw 2) & a swing. Did think it was somewhat chippy with ref not calling a whole lot, but I thought it went both ways as far as calls & non-calls.

[Unregistered]

Was at the game and neither team deserved to win. Very boring and poorly played game. Ab girl deserved.a red She threw a punch and kicked the other girl. Not a very smart decision. Peabody vs chelmsford in the finals...whos going to win? I think peabody has the
upper hand, but chelmsford has been playing well

I was there as well and I completely agree with this assessment.

I felt A-B did a great job dealing with playing a man down. They almost won it off a corner with less than three minutes to go. Peabody did a poor job after the red card being unable to consistently connect passes, holding four players back to cover the lone A-B striker and playing very narrow up top allowing the A-B defense to control their defensive third. A-B was the best coached team given what they had to deal with.

I felt the referees did a good job. The player deserved the red card for the kick and punch. The foul that lead to the DK goal was a foul in a dangerous area dead center 30 yards out and the Peabody player did a great job on the DK with a laser shot close to the left post.

A-B should be proud of their effort, especially after the red card.

All in all, it was not a great game to watch.

[Unregistered]

Yes very chilly. The quality of the refs is awful. Did you notice that they switched the head ref at halftime and the lines was not the main ref? Neither of them could handle the game. Great goal by HD. She didnt have her beat game, but shes very good. Peabody should beat chelmsford

[Unregistered]

Peabody did not deserve to win that game. They were lucky that AB got an ejection. Even though AB was a man down from the beginning of the first half they fought hard and never gave up. AB wanted it more and were better all over the field. The goal Peabody scored was because of a foul outside of the box, which was not a very good call. It sucks for the losing team and I feel bad for them that the refs made so much of an impact. You know its a problem when the refs seem like another player making a difference to the game. AB definitely proved themselves in the game today.

Righht. Lucky? I don't think so. Girl lost her cool & kicked & swung at Peabody defender. We can send you the tape if you want to see it again. Game was poorly played by both sides even before red card. After that I thought LB packed in the box with one forward up & played for the tie & pk's. Gee, where have I seen that before? Sounds like this year's U17 state cup round robin when he had a full squad. LB knows what I'm talking about. Refs made so much of an impact? Refs were pretty bad all around. Both teams benefited from questionable calls the entire game. AB wanted it more? Other than the corner kick when did they come close to scoring? Stop your whining!

[Unregistered]

Peabody did not deserve to win that game. They were lucky that AB got an ejection. Even though AB was a man down from the beginning of the first half they fought hard and never gave up. AB wanted it more and were better all over the field. The goal Peabody scored was because of a foul outside of the box, which was not a very good call. It sucks for the losing team and I feel bad for them that the refs made so much of an impact. You know its a problem when the refs seem like another player making a difference to the game. AB definitely proved themselves in the game today.

You folks are starting to sound like a bunch of Stars parents after an unexpected loss...........oh, sorry, I forgot..........you are a bunch of Stars parents.

[Unregistered]

I agree with the post that this was a bad overall game. Neither team played well and the refs were absolutely horrible. Crazy chelmsford made the finals. I think peabody will win sunday. Chelmsfords been lucky

[Unregistered]

I agree with the post that this was a bad overall game. Neither team played well and the refs were absolutely horrible. Crazy chelmsford made the finals. I think peabody will win sunday. Chelmsfords been lucky

I have watched hundreds of high school and prep school soccer games over the years and have seen very few examples of "absolutely horrible" referees. Yet, in this MIAA tournament, all games appear to have terrible referees. Maybe the parents need to lighten up a bit.

[Unregistered]

Who's laughing at W-H coach now? South Finals and no Mewis, Petta, etc.

If you think the coaching good over there you must love watching town soccer.UGLY SOCCER POOR COACHING.

[Unregistered]

Righht. Lucky? I don't think so. Girl lost her cool & kicked & swung at Peabody defender. We can send you the tape if you want to see it again. Game was poorly played by both sides even before red card. After that I thought LB packed in the box with one forward up & played for the tie & pk's. Gee, where have I seen that before? Sounds like this year's U17 state cup round robin when he had a full squad. LB knows what I'm talking about. Refs made so much of an impact? Refs were pretty bad all around. Both teams benefited from questionable calls the entire game. AB wanted it more? Other than the corner kick when did they come close to scoring? Stop your whining!

You have no clue! What would you have done? Gone all out attack with over 3/4 of the game still remaining against a Peabody team that is yet to lose, can only play long direct balls and has one of the best forwards in HS ball? Idiot!!
LB handled and coached that game very well considering. Yes AB dropped back, they never packed it in. They dropped so the direct boots over the top could not be played and made Peabody try a passing game on the ground which they were not capable of doing. Peabody were picked off every time with a couple of wide crosses as exceptions.

Watch your tape again and tell us out of the 80 minutes which team came the closest to scoring? The 10 players of AB did with the header ball off the post right near the death.

I am just sorry AB got the ejection. If they could have stayed at 11 it would have been a different story.

[Unregistered]

I've been watching Peabody's games throughout the tournament and this was not the team I've seen play in prior games. They performed well on their own short, narrow field and where able to pressure Westford and Concord with the limited space, but yesterday Peabody looked tired and didn't know what to do on a large field. It took away their ability to apply pressure. They were unable to get the ball to HD despite being open many times. Nevermind their inability to string 2 or 3 passes together when they were up a player. I hope playing on a large turf field doesn't hurt them in the finals. I do think they deserve to win the North. They've been playing consistently the entire season, but playing on their home field is actually a disadvantage when trying to transition to a large turf field in the final rounds.

[Unregistered]

They performed well on their own short, narrow field and where able to pressure Westford and Concord with the limited space, but yesterday Peabody looked tired and didn't know what to do on a large field. ... playing on their home field is actually a disadvantage when trying to transition to a large turf field in the final rounds.

I can't cry over such a "disadvantage." The lousy home fields help teams like Peabody, Stoneham, Newburyport, etc. build great regular season records, earn top seedings, then play tournament games against low-seeded opponents on said lousy fields.

[Unregistered]

Any update on stoneham-newburyport?

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE=Unregistered;656835]I agree with the post that this was a bad overall game. Neither team played well and the refs were absolutely horrible. Crazy chelmsford made the finals. I think peabody will win sunday. Chelmsfords been lucky[/QUOTE



how can you say winning 3 games against supposedly better teams is all luck. Give Chelmsford the credit they deserve and lets hope for a great final game, no matter who wins....

[Unregistered]

Any update on stoneham-newburyport?

Newburyport won. PK's

[HS Harry]

I watched the Peabody/ AB game. I agree with some of what I have read here. I think it would be fair to say that it was a closer game than I would have expected after AB had a player sent off. But it is not unusual for a team to get more focused after a red card and that did happen with the Colonials. Neither team played a strong possession game although AB had the better of the possession and a slight edge in territory. Peabody played exactly as I expected on the larger surface and AB did a good job on HD when the ball did stay on the carpet. They limited her receipt of the ball inside of the offesive third and gave her few chances up the gut. It was certainly a game of long balls and nuetral zone action. It appeared that the AB keeper was effectively screened on the free kick goal as she didn't seem to reactwell to it.

As for the officiating, it didn't seem as bad to me. The straight red was harsh, but the CR acted immediately with both cards and seemed confident that it was the appropriate action. My biggest problem with HS officiating is the lack of fitness by refs (leading to little possibility of an effective job) and a disconnect with the rules and/or flow of the game. I didn't sense that with either of the CRs and although there were some questionable calls, outside the red, it seemed a pretty compenent job. I do thnk the Colonials have a legitimate gripe on the red. Even if it was a punch or spikeless kick, straight red in a girls game is unusual. A red for obscene language would be more common. But again it was harsh but not entirely innapropriate for such retaliation. Lesson learned? Don't retaliate!!

Peabody should have the advantage over a Chelmsford team that they basically beat earlier in the year. But even in that game, Chelmsford's ability to keep it close and take advantage of their few chances shows they are a dangerous opponent. Peabody's offense gets generated either by HD splitting the defense or their ability to take it wide, cross into the box and make good things happen. Chelmsford's strength is in clogging up the middle and finishing on their counter-attacks. Not necessarily a recipe for beautiful soccer, but should be a good contest.