Peabody 9-20

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018
WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 9
By Harold Rivera
PEABODY — After 17 seasons
coaching the softball team
at Bishop Fenwick, Paul Lyman
has decided to retire. The longtime
Crusaders coach made
the decision official via an announcement
released by the
Fenwick Athletics Department
Thursday morning.
Lyman took over the softball
program at Fenwick in 2002
and remained as head coach
until 2018. Prior to coaching
the Crusaders, Lyman spent
13 seasons as head coach at
Wilmington High. During his
coaching career, Lyman has
recorded over 350 victories.
He also spent 24 seasons as
an assistant football coach at
Fenwick.
Fenwick Athletic Director
Dave Woods spoke highly of
Lyman’s tenure at Fenwick.
“We’ve been so lucky to have
Paul here at Fenwick for as long
as we did, on both the football
and softball fields,” Woods
said. “Paul’s not only one of the
best coaches I’ve ever worked
FILE PHOTO
Paul Lyman has amassed more
than 350 career victories.
with, but he’s one of the best
human beings you would ever
meet. He’s 100 percent the type
of coach you would want your
own kids to play for.”
After a couple down seasons
at Fenwick, Lyman said he felt
the time was right to hand the
program to a new coach.
“Nothing really prompted it,”
Lyman said. “The last couple
Sports
Defense leads the way for Tanners
By Daniel Kane
PEABODY — Defense led the way
for the Peabody girls soccer team Monday
night when the Tanners secured a 2-0
shutout win over Northeastern Conference
opponent Marblehead at Peabody High.
Madeleine Scacchi and Amber Kiricoples
each scored one goal for Peabody while
Bridget O’Connell dished an assist.
Peabody goaltender Shelby Doucette recorded
her fourth shutout in five games.
Tanners head coach Dennis Desroches
was happy with the way his team bounced
back after a 6-0 NEC conference loss to
Swampscott last week.
“Last game against Swampscott, I mean,
hand it to them, we played on our heels
and allowed Swampscott to control play
right from the start,” Desroches said. “We
needed to fix that coming right into this
game because we knew Marblehead returned
a monster roster.
“We are fairly new with six or seven
freshmen out there, six or seven sophomores.
My only returning senior is (captain)
Catherine Manning who is out four to six
weeks with a stress fracture,” Desroches
added. “But for these young ones to come
out after getting walloped at Swampscott
for our first loss, they came out and they
really played aggressive going forward and
we were not on our heels. The combinations
were nice in the first half.”
The Magicians found themselves with
the first scoring chance of the day when
Annika Haley found Grace Arthur open in
the box. Arthur ripped a shot but Doucette
made a diving stop to keep the game even.
“Things are starting to come together for
us,” Magicians coach Annie Madden said.
“Our communication across the field helped
FILE PHOTO
Bridget O’Connell registered an assist in Monday’s 2-0 win over Marblehead.
Fenwick softball coach Lyman is retiring
years, we’ve struggled a little
bit. I just said to myself ‘maybe
the program needs a new voice,
fresh blood or something.’ I just
said it was time to go. I don’t
think it’s a surprise to anybody.
I have no regrets. I just wanted
to give Dave and the school
plenty of time to search for the
next coach so I decided to do it
now.”
A longtime Salem resident
who grew up in Wilmington,
Lyman said he’ll miss the camaraderie
that comes with
coaching softball when the
spring season rolls around. He
recently stepped down from
coaching football, which he did
for 40 years.
“I’m sure I’m going to miss
that when the spring rolls
around I won’t be out there with
the kids doing it,” Lyman said.
“We had some great players and
students, some of them became
friends over the years as they
became adults. I’m going to
miss the camaraderie with the
kids.”
As for what he’ll do with his
spare time, Lyman currently
us play a strong Peabody team. Good things
will come as this is just the beginning.”
The remainder of the game was a defensive
battle, for the most part, with both
teams switching possessions, until Peabody
capitalized on two scoring chances in a twominute
span with less than 17 minutes remaining
in the first half.
The first goal came after a corner kick by
O’Connell that was perfectly placed in front
of the Marblehead net. Scacchi drilled the
ball home to put the Tanners up 1-0.
doesn’t have any plans to continue
coaching. He has interest
in umpiring softball as an avenue
for staying close to the
game and is looking forward to
spending time with his family.
“I’m not looking to necessarily
coach anywhere else,”
Lyman said. “If the opportunity
comes up and I think it’s worth
while I may consider it. I’m
sure I’ll go to a bunch of ball
games, maybe work around my
house. I always said I might get
into umpiring after I stopped
coaching so I may get into that
and that’ll keep my hand in the
game a little bit.
“I have a bunch of grandchildren
running around all the
time so I’ll have plenty to do,”
Lyman said.
Despite the recent down seasons,
Fenwick returns a solid
core of experienced players
next spring. Many of them were
inexperienced underclassmen
during the 2018 season, but
with a year of varsity softball
on their resumes, Fenwick’s
core looks to be in a good position
to compete in 2019.
Less than two minutes later, Peabody
worked another corner kick. This time, Aja
Alimonte sent a bending kick off of the
crossbar. During the ensuing scrum for the
rebound, Kiricoples lept for a loose ball in
front of net to head the ball into the net and
give Peabody a 2-0 lead before the half.
“It was an evenly-played game,”
Desroches said. “Fortunately for us we
were able to hit a weak side goal with
Amber finishing. That is all off-the-ball
work and working and getting yourself in
position where you need to be.”
In the second half Marblehead came out
attacking on offense but the Peabody defense
held strong.
“Marblehead, got to give them credit for
a section of that game there, especially in
the first ten minutes of the second half,”
Desroches said. “They started out possessing
us a little bit. So our job was to just
fill lanes, in other words work off ball a
little more.”
The Tanners held on to the two-goal
lead to improve to 4-1 on the season. The
Tanners play their next game this afternoon
(Thursday) at Beverly (4).
“Great game, we are very happy with
this turnaround,” Desroches said. “We
were kind of down on ourselves and we are
young but we have to learn from that and
we did. We got a nice little win here.
“We have a monster one against Beverly
away now,” Desroches added. “That’s a
team that’s picked to have a great tournament
run, the whole roster is returned and
this is going to be a battle for us.”
The Magicians (0-3) host Somerville
Thursday afternoon (4), still in search of
their first victory of the young season.
“Overall, there’s a lot of kids
coming back that played last
year,” Lyman said. “We have
one of our pitchers coming
back, we have a four-year starter
at catcher coming back and a
lot of other returners. I think
they’ll be very competitive. I
hope whoever takes it over will
be more successful than we’ve
been in recent years.”
Woods, who coaches the
school’s football team, credited
Lyman as a mentor. He said he
wishes Lyman the best in his future
endeavors.
“I can’t thank him enough for
being a mentor to me when I was
a young coach, and for helping
me through my first few years
as an AD, when I had no idea
what I was doing,” Woods said.
“I’m happy for him that he will
be able to relax and spend more
time with his family, no one deserves
that more than Paul. At
the same time I’m sad and disappointed
that he will no longer
be our coach. If I could get him
to change his mind I would, but
he’ll always be Coach Lyman to
me and to many many more.”