Set Pieces girls soccer column: Peabody's Kiricoples, Alimonti spearhead mental health awareness effort

Oct. 16--Maybe Kermit the Frog didn't have it exactly right. At Peabody High, it's easy to be green.

Two of the Tanners girls soccer captains, Amber Kiricoples and Aja Alimonti, have turned their athletic department green as part of their DECA project to promote mental health awareness.

Considering what every student-athlete on the North Shore and beyond has gone through in 2020, it's a worthy cause. People cope with obstacles like changes amid the pandemic, stress of performing well on the field and making the grade in school in different ways. Seeing a splash of green, the official color of mental health awareness, on the field is a reminder that no one is alone in those stresses.

"Mental health is so near and dear to my heart (that) I can't explain," said Kiricoples. "It's one of those things where you know you have to be OK in your own head, but the struggles out there are real and people need to support each other."

At Peabody, every captain across all sports now has a green colored captain's band. Girls are wearing green hair bows or pre-wrap headbands, while boys are using green tape. Soccer players have blue socks featuring green ribbons, and some players are giving themselves personal reminders while they're on the field by writing the initials of people they know fighting through mental health struggles on their wrist tape.

"It's hard to give things out right now so we thought 'the simpler the better'," said Alimonti. "A lot of athletes are going through things behind the scenes that nobody knows about, and it's important for them to know they have support no matter what."

The school's DECA adviser, Mr. Brand, helped the pair foster their idea into a full fledged project. Through a grant from New York Life, they're planning to get T-shirts made they hope local politicians like the school committee and Mayor Ted Bettencourt will wear to spread awareness. They're also looking at green car magnets and athletic bracelets.

"The amount of support we're getting is crazy," said Alimonti, who will be playing soccer next year at Merrimack College. "Our phones are flooded every day with people saying 'this is so important because it's never talked about in high school sports.' The support is overwhelming."

The feeling to teamwork has gone beyond the halls of Peabody High. Through social media (the cause's Instagram is MentalHealthMatters2021) and their personal connections, they've gotten the girls soccer team at Danvers, the boys and girls soccer teams at Beverly High, as well as the Panthers' field hockey squad and a few others to 'go green.'

"To see our rivals be like, 'yes we fully support you', is amazing," said Kiricoples, who will play lacrosse at Bentley University next year. "Social media has been a huge thing for us. Once you connect with someone, you know off the field we're all friends and we're all supporting each other."

"To see Swampscott show up (for Thursday's game) with green hair ties, it's like 'Wow.' We didn't even talk about with them. Their captain read about it and is all about this stuff, too," Alimonti added. "Really, it's amazing to see people come together like this."

Two-sport Tanners coach Dennis Desroches, sporting his own green tape, knows how hard it was for his girls lacrosse team to miss its entire season last spring. He couldn't be more proud to see two of his leaders embrace mental health as they get back on the field this fall.

"It's awesome what they're doing. My hat's off to them," said Desroches, whose soccer team is 1-1 going into Friday's action. "They're putting a lot of time and energy into such a great cause."

So often, the playing field is a happy place for student-athletes at all levels. Keeping it that way, and reminding everyone to cherish being out there, is another building block of good mental health.

"Losing the spring to COVID was hard because sports are a lot of people's distractions. So it popped into my mind: 'what can we do to help?'" Kiricoples said. "I know for me, if I'm on the field I don't think about anything else besides the fact that I'm happy to be (there)."

The traditional district, state and national competitions for DECA, a program that prepares high school students for futures in the business world of marketing, finance and management, are up in the air amid the pandemic. Alimonti and Kiricoples are so grateful for the full support of Brand and Peabody High's teachers, administrators and their peers; they're looking to compete at districts and beyond, but like all things with the mental health cause it's secondary.

"I don't really care if we make it to states or nationals," Alimonti said, "if we help even one person out there having a hard time with their mental health. That's the important thing." -- Beverly and senior keeper Sydney Anderson have yet to allow a goal in 2020 with 80 straight shutout minutes going into Friday's road game at Salem'sMcGrath Park. That's hardly the longest run of zeroes in Anderson's career, since she ran up seven straight shutouts last year to the tune of 626 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal.

As a freshman, Anderson shared two streaks of 400-plus minutes without allowing a goal with fellow keeper Julia Pitman. In Anderson's last 20 starts, she's posted an incredible 12 total shutouts.

Of course, the longest shutout streak in North Shore girls history can't be broken this year. That mark belongs to Ali Shube and Marblehead, which posted 21 straight goose eggs in 2002 on their way to being Division 3 state runners-up. At the time, it was believed to be a national record. -- With 10-12 games on most schedules, it'll be impossible for many teams to surpass last year's win total. Not so for Ipswich High, which has already matched their 2019 output with three victories.

The turnaround is a major credit to Jennie Tarr, who's been dominant in terms of controlling the middle parts of the field. Outstanding scorer Carter King has been pretty solid, too, with five goals already. -- If you're looking to check out Salem's girls this fall, keep in mind that the clubhouse construction at Bertram Field has the turf closed for the season. The Witches are hosting their games on the grass at McGrath Park instead. -- Did you see Monday's "Three Stars of the Week" feature? Each weekend, we're picking three standout student-athletes from across the North Shore (in a variety of sports) that played well in the previous week. If you have nominees from girls soccer (or anything else), feel free to send them to MWilliams@salemnews.com and via Twitter @MattWilliams_SN. -- Set Pieces, this year's comprehensive notes column on North Shore girls soccer, appears each Friday in The Salem News. You can contact Matt Williams at MWilliams@salemnews.com and follow along on Twitter @MattWilliams_SN.

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