Girls' Soccer Battles Back to Tie Salem

Sydney Cayen scored her first goal of the season with 13 minutes to play, catching Salem goalie Emma Titus off guard with a long shot from the left wing that propelled Marblehead to a 4-4 tie at home Wednesday afternoon.

“We deserved a lucky break and we got one,” coach Tracy DeLuca said. “The girls played hard in the second half to come back from two goals down. They played with a lot of heart today.”

Salem’s Deema Hijleh put the Witches up 4-2 at 34:22, just minutes after a header by Marblehead’s Gabby Carrick rang off the crossbar. So instead of being in a 3-3 game, the Magicians found themselves in a two-goal hole.

“We scored a lot of goals today, which I’m pleased about, but every time we made a mistake in front, the ball ended up in the net,” Salem coach Fred Day said.

Salem (1-4-2) went up 2-0 on goals by Holbrook Phelan and Joy Lima before Lindsay Cohen’s third goal of the year got Marblehead within striking distance. Midfielder Becca Unterborn set up Cohen at 22:51.

The Witches went back ahead by two goals when Kayla Howland put a shot from the right side past Cassie Rodgers and into the Marblehead net. Phelan picked up an assist on the play.

With just under three minutes to go in the first half, Cailin Daley and Gabby Carrick combined to slice Salem’s lead again. Daley took a shot that got past Titus, but backliner Jessica King made the save with her left leg, the rebound rolled to Carrick and she buried it into the net from 10 feet out.

“When we have lapses on defense it hurts us,” DeLuca said. “Thankfully, Cassie’s there to bail us out.”

After Hijleh’s great move up the middle put Salem up by two goals in the second half, Marblehead roared back to tie the game.

Co-captain Meghan Stanojev scored her first goal of the season with 14:52 to play off a scramble in front of the Salem net to make it a one-goal game. Daley made a nice move down low to get the ball in front to Stanojev who drilled it in past Titus’ left side.

The comeback was complete when Cayen, a sophomore midfielder, blasted one from way outside the box on the left wing to tie the score with 13:11 to play.

“Very proud of the girls on their comeback,” DeLuca said. “Meggie Collins did a nice job at sweeper for us, we’ve just got to concentrate on playing better defense so we don’t have to come from behind.”

“Marblehead played well, they didn’t quit, but we have to lock these games up when we have a two-goal lead,” Day said.

Marblehead (1-3-2) takes on the Big Blue next Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Swampscott High School.