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Concord-Carlisle ends North Andover's season

Thursday, November, 13 By Jeff Hamrick

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."