The Peabody Hotshots have done it again.
The Hotshots won their second Massachusetts Tournament of Champions state soccer title, this time at the U14 Division 1 level.
Coach Silvio Albano's Hotshots are old pros at reaching this lofty level, making their third trip to MTOC in the last four years. Two years ago, this same group of girls won the MTOC at the U12 level; in 2006 they made it to the Final Four.
The Peabody team won the Division 1 Essex County championship at the Pingree School two weeks ago to earn a trip to Amherst.
"The winning streak is a tribute to their versatility and high level of contributions — far beyond expectations. It's been unbelievable," Albano said. "This group of girls is truly spectacular: they've made soccer history in Peabody by winning the states twice."
The way the season began, Albano had his doubts about how successful the season would be.
"We started our quest for another state title with a tie and a loss, which put us in last place in the league," said Albano, who also coached two other state championship clubs with the Hotshots (in 1982 and 2006) during his 30 years. "I gave each girl a copy of the standings to put on their refrigerators where they could be constantly reminded of our situation — and what they were willing to do about it. From that point on, they ran off 13 games without a loss, including winning the Memorial Day Lynn Tournament."
The defense and goaltending for the Hotshots have been remarkable, with 11 shutouts in those 13 games. The key to success at the state level was once again defense and goaltending. The Hotshots allowed only one goal and advanced to the finals on the basis of fewest goals against.
The most remarkable part of their championship journey was being able to survive season-ending injuries to Samantha Borrelli (fractured leg), Sarah Sousa (separated toes) and Aimee Cawlina (strained hand ligaments). "We never put the same combination of players on the field from game-to-game due to the injuries and girls unable to make some games," said Albano.
In round-robin competition there were three groups of four teams each, with the winner of each group advancing along with one wild card team. The Hotshots opened with a 5-0 blowout win over Melrose, but lost the next game to Medfield. The latter was a contest in which they dominated play, according to Albano; they allowed just one shot, which unfortunately resulted in the game's only goal.
The loss meant Peabody had to not only win the next game, but also hold its opponent scoreless to advance. The Hotshots accomplished both tasks with a 1-0 win over Marshfield to finish in a group tie with Auburn. Each team had four points, but Peabody advanced on the basis of only fewer goals allowed.
A 3-1 semifinal victory over Brockton, in which they allowed the goal in the final minute of play, moved the Hotshots into the finals against Belchertown. Peabody dominated the title match, 3-0, allowing only one shot on net the entire game.
The MTOC marks the end of the line for this group of Hotshots as all but two (Melissa Lefave and Mikayla McCormick, who are going into 8th grade), will be off to high school. Future Peabody High Tanners include Stephanie Breen, Cayla Bucci, Cawlina, Kara DiGiacomo, Victoria DiGiacomo, Hayley Dowd, Christine Feudo, Bianca Muscato, Nicole Napolitano, Sousa, Joy Sullivan and Christa Trombley. Attending other schools will be Borrelli (Bishop Fenwick) Alana Vecchiarello (Hamilton-Wenham), Kaitlyn Delaney (Austin Prep), and Mackenzie Foster (Pingree).
"It's been a fabulous five years with this group, and they should all go forward with very promising soccer careers," said Albano, whose assistant coaches are Eric Albano and Richard Muscato (Pam Napolitano serves as team mother).
"We had a slogan going into the tournament, "It's not over until we say it's over." Well, now we can finally say it's over. What a great way to say it."
Does this mean the end of the line for the highly successful coach?
No; Albano said he'll start all over with a new group of up and coming nine-year-old Hotshots. Few would doubt his ability to develop the young talent into state champs once again.
