RallyNorth.net

Concord-Carlisle eliminates Knights

Friday, November, 12 By Christopher Smith

ACTON — Junior Mike Moroney had a strong day in net for North Andover stopping 20 shots, but it wasn’t enough.
Concord-Carlisle put an early goal past Moroney on a corner kick and that was all it needed as the No. 2 seed beat No. 6 North Andover 1-0 in the semifinals of the Division 2 North tournament.
“They are really good at finishing inside the box,” Moroney said about Concord-Carlisle. “They got their foot on it. We tried to clear it but we didn’t clear it out far enough. They got their foot on it and put it in the back of the net.”
The lone goal came 5:05 into the game and was scored by Stowe Simonton.
Maybe Moroney’s best save came with just under 11 minutes remaining when he caught a ball absolutely smashed at him. 
“This was his first year playing varsity soccer,” North Andover coach Bill Tarbox said about Moroney. “He’s a basketball player at heart and soul. I am sure. And his size is just a cool thing. He’s 6-2, 6-3. He’s got a great wingspan. I think he just steps up to the plate.”
Moroney missed approximately six games this season with a concussion.
“He did a great job (this year),” Tarbox said. “And I am sure that if we had him for the other six games our record would have been a little bit better on the ties and the losses. But hey, those things happen.”
Brett Smith added about Moroney: “He fought pretty hard today. We’ve had unlucky breaks on set pieces all year so it was normal for us to give up a goal there. ... And we didn’t really control the ball well but we did our best.”
North Andover allowed just the one goal in its three Division 2 North playoffs games.
“And two of our defenders are coming back next year,” sophomore forward Evan Dudney said. “We’ve got Zach Karalis and Danny Connelly, and they’re coming back so it (the defense) will be strong again..”
Plus, Moroney will be back.
Concord-Carlisle outshot North Andover 21-5 (shots on net).
“They marked a man on me like the whole time,” Dudney said. “So I didn’t really have much chance to turn or do anything with it. There weren’t many open players on our team to pass to, I guess. They were pretty solid. They knew what they were doing.”
Tarbox added: “We showed that we could play a solid game and we did play a solid game. Obviously, defensively we shined.”