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They're typical sisters, these highly-skilled Manoogian kids on Peabody High's undefeated girls soccer team.

"We have our stupid little fights," Alyssa Manoogian said. "Like when one of us is wearing the other's shirt, stuff like that. Clothes are usually the issue."

There were just seconds remaining in a routine win over Ipswich, but the second Mariah Dellea heard the unmistakable "pop" in her right knee she instantly knew her soccer season was over.

"It's a weird sound that you know when you hear it," said Dellea of the ominous sound which only accompanies a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Few things are certain in the Cape Ann League, especially preseason predictions or expectations, which often prove only to be fodder for talk.

The Triton girls soccer team is proving as much with its remarkable early season success.

It was not easy for Michelle Garabedian to pass up going to Salem High School.

Her grandfather Harry, a retired Salem firefighter, has been inducted into the Salem High Athletic Hall of Fame as one of the school's best-ever basketball guards. Her father, Scott, was a Salem High football captain.

Whoever came up with the phrase "making lemonade out of lemons" would have probably enjoyed spending a few minutes talking to Erin Griffin.

The dynamic senior captain for the Londonderry girls soccer team was back on the field Wednesday for the Lancers' 3-0 win over Salem. But with Griffin dressed in long pants and sneakers instead of shorts and cleats, yesterday probably marked the first occasion in the last four years that the Blue Devil coaching staff did not have to warn their team to keep an eye on the lightning-quick striker from Londonderry.

What is it that keeps the Danvers High School girls soccer program atop the mountain?

After all, it's major news when the Falcons lose or even tie.

But there's no mystery as to why Danvers is always strong, said head coach Jim Hinchion. Maybe a degree of awe, but certainly no mystery as to why the Falcons are continually one of the top programs in Eastern Mass. girls soccer circles.