TMHS Boys, Girls Soccer Teams Suffer Same Fate

It was a day of narrow defeats soccer program, as the boys team dropped a hard-fought 1-0 decision to Haverhill and the girls team suffered its first Merrimack Valley Conference defeat of the year, 1-0 at Dracut.

In the boys game, Tewksbury was forced to play short-handed for the majority of the game after senior sweeper back Foti Kafkis was issued a red card in the first half for committing a foul in the penalty area.

"Foti did his job," "He did what he had to do. The kid was in alone and about to score so Foti grabbed his shirt. He stopped a goal."

Haverhill was awarded a penalty kick but the shot went wide. Still, a red card issued for interfering with a player going unabated to the goal brings an automatic ejection from the game, and the Redmen had to play the balance of the game with 10 men to Haverhill's 11.

"It was interesting," Carpenito said. "We stepped up and played well once we went a man down. We even had our chances to score."

The Hillies, however, registered the game's only goal late in the first half, and Tewksbury couldn't match it.

"I was happy with our play today," Carpenito said. "We didn't score but we did have some chances. We could have let down after Foti's red card, but we didn't. We played well. It wasn't a meltdown."

made several spectacular saves during the game and senior defender Andy Chabak also played well, as did senior forward Sean Wackrow and senior midfielder Joey DiRusso.

Tewksbury, now 2-6 on the season, plays at Lawrence Thursday evening.

GIRLS TEAM FALLS TO DRACUT, 1-0

The last thing any Merrimack Valley Conference girls soccer team wants to do is fall behind the Dracut Middies and their standout goaltender Rachel Ledbetter early in any game.

But that's exactly the fate the suffered on Tuesday, as Dracut grabbed an early, 1-0 lead and Ledbetter made it stand up with several spectacular saves against the Redmen.

Tewksbury actually played one of its stronger games of the season, controlling the run of play for long periods of time against the physical, senior-studded Middie line-up. But Ledbetter turned away every TMHS shot she faced, and the Redmen suffered their first MVC loss of the season.

made several big saves to keep Tewksbury within striking distance while sophomore defenders Meaghan Blaisdell, Kelly Quigley and Olivia Gallella played well in front of Davies.

Tewksbury falls to 5-2 overall and 5-1 in the MVC. The Redmen host Notre Dame Academy Friday afternoon at 4:00.