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CHELMSFORD — Despite coming off a seven-win season North Andover girls soccer coach Lisa Rasanen was convinced her Scarlet Knights could go far this fall.

"I told (the girls) when we came into the season when we had our parent and player dinner that we could do well," said Rasanen, whose 7-9-3 rookie campaign was the program's only losing season since at least 1988. "And they came into the season ready to go. They put a lot of work in the offseason. And within the first week of the season, I knew this was a special group."

Unfortunately, the road ended last night in the Division 2 North semis with a tough 1-0 loss to ninth seeded Concord-Carlisle. It was fifth-seeded North Andover's deepest playoff sojourn since dropping a similar score to Chelmsford in the 2011 Division 1 semifinals.

A pair of 2-1 early-sectional successes over Danvers (on penalty kicks) and Marblehead proved the final victories in the Knights' 16-3-2 season.

"We had some injuries last year, and some more this year, but we played through them," said Rasanen, who spent 11 as the school's JV coach until taking the top position last year. "This is probably one of the best teams North Andover has ever had in terms of team chemistry.

"They play together and most games, I'm playing 17-18 players. One through 18 on our team is very competitive, and I think that's led to our success this year."

In last night's finale, Concord-Carlisle (13-4-3) recorded the game's only goal 117 seconds into the match when a North Andover defender fell chasing a loose ball that Patriot forward Meg Wilson knocked in from a tough angle.

The Knights had several scoring opportunities in a first-half in which they out shot the Patriots. The best chance came with 8:30 remaining when a North Andover throw-in resulted in a loose ball that slipped past CC goalie Lorin DeMuth but was knocked back in play by defender Angela Ortiz at the last moment.

After intermission, however, the offense struggled to find consistency with only four shots on net.

"They went to five defenders in the second half," Rasanen said of CC's strategy. "They were playing to not have us score and we just couldn't break through in that second half."

While disappointing, this season-ending defeat won't dampen North Andover's optimistic future.

"We came from a losing season, and we were able to turn things around," Rasanen said. "We have some great talent coming up in the program and this is something we can build on the success we had this year. We're more motivated and we're better prepared mentally."  

Abbie Karalis missed a late penalty kick but North Andover's junior all-conference forward didn't pout. Five minutes later, she tallied the game winner in a 2-1 win over No. 4 Marblehead.

Meg Collins made a clutch diving save on the third penalty kick and North Andover's Taylor Casale, Abbie Karalis, Amanda DeMaio and Mikayla Guthrie each made their PKs to give the Knights a 2-1 win over Danvers Tuesday night.

NORTH ANDOVER — North Andover freshman Mary O'Connor recently earned a promotion from JV to varsity when Maura Barry tore her ACL. The rookie made quite an impression Tuesday in just her third varsity game. O'Connor scored the game's first goal and assisted the other goal by Katie Blackshaw to lead North Andover to a 2-0 victory over Central Catholic. "I think Maura cheered the loudest of anyone when Mary scored that goal," North Andover coach Lisa Rasanen said. "She's mentored her over the past two weeks."
With the win, the Scarlet Knights not only avenged a 3-1 road loss to the Raiders on Oct. 7. But they also claimed the MVC Large title outright. Rasanen said Barry cheering on O'Connor so loudly exemplifies what's best about this year's group of Scarlet Knights: they are a true team. "Nobody is worried about how many minutes they play but only what the outcome is: whether we win," Rasanen said. "Mary can go out there and play with confidence because her teammates believe in her." This has been quite the turnaround for North Andover, which improved its record to 14-2-2 heading into the tournament. Complete Eagle-Tribune records go back through 1989 and last year's 7-9-3 record was the Knights' first losing season in that span. Rasanen told the girls before the season they had ample talent and they could be a terrific team if they worked hard and together.
Rasanen hasn't used the same lineup each game. She goes with different players depending on how they practice. "Collectively, they have great chemistry," said Rasanen, a former North Andover and Merrimack College great who took over as head coach last year after being the JV coach from 2001-12. She said this year's group has the most chemistry of any she has seen at her time at North Andover. Meg Collins has had quite the season and her success continued with 12 saves in Tuesday's victory. Collins has done a tremendous job leading vocally with two freshmen on defense.

Senior Emily Sauls saved her career day for senior night, netting her first career goal then moving into the net to make three saves as North Andover soccer downed Bedford 3-0.

"She's the reason we won today," North Andover girls coach Lisa Rasanen said about keeper Megan Collins who made 10 saves to lead the Scarlet Knights 1-0 over Chelmsford. 

Mikayla Guthrie had two goals and an assists and North Andover raced to a 4-0 lead. But Masconomet caught fire against the reserves to cut it to 4-3. The Knights held on for the 4-3 girls soccer win. On the down side, senior captain Maura Barry went to the hospital and the fear is she may have a broken leg.

North Andover received goals from, Megan McCann, Taylor Casale, Deven Sportelli and Jillian Good, to rout Lowell 4-1 in the rain in girls soccer. 

Alli Wiggins continued to pour in the goals. She had two more in Central Catholic's 3-1 victory over North Andover. 

This was quite a MVC battle as both teams entered with just one loss. 

Mkayla Guthrie scored twice, giving her seven goals in nine games. She helped North Andover girls soccer to a 2-2 tie against Peabody.