October 26,  2024
Brookline 5 - Danvers 0

The Danvers Varsity Girls Soccer Team hosted Brookline Saturday afternoon for their final match of the regular season.  Danvers had played Brookline as a non-league opponent each of the past 6 years going 2-2-2.  However, they had lost on the Warrior's Home turf a year ago 5-1 so that was fresh in the Falcon's minds.  Brookline came into the contest with a deceiving 7-6-3 record playing in the State's most powerful conference, the Bay State League.

"They took it to us pretty good last year and we knew coming in that they only graduated 1 player from that roster.  With a Team stacked with seniors and juniors we knew it would be a big test but we felt very ready for it."

The game was played in dedication to "Morgan's Message" in support of athletes struggling with mental health.  Seniors from the Falcons, Tabitha Sears and Maddie Dembowski had shirts and bracelets sold along with some of their peers who are all collaborating on the effort for their DECA project in school.  

The game did not get off to the start the Falcons were hoping for.  Playing against a very stiff wind, Danvers struggled early and found themselves down 2-0 only 11 minutes in.

"We gave up 2 early goals and both were on plays that we normally defend pretty well.  The  wind was tough for sure, but that's no excuse.  We made some mental errors and it put us in the early hole."

The Falcons continued the uphill battle throughout the rest of the half.  Senior keeper, Maddie Dembowski kept her Team in it making 9 first half saves and junior Ashley Freitas was fantastic at slowing down Brookline's top player, a Dartmouth College commit.  Although Brookline owned a territorial edge in the first 40 minutes, Danvers had some great opportunities of their own.  Juniors, Sabina Sturgeon and DeAnna Figueiredo were great at pressuring the Warrior defense and caused several turnovers in their end of the field.  Figueiredo had a great chance on goal of her own along with senior, captain Georgia Prouty.  Towards the end of the half, Danvers just missed off a well played corner kick, but Brookline was able to escape unscathed at the half leading 2-0.

"We came out slow, but picked up play as the half went on.  We had some good chances later on the half and felt that with the wind on our side, we could get back into the game with an early second half goal."

That goal would never come and instead, the visitors repeated their quick 2 goal explosion for the second time.  Brookline scored twice in the first 11 minutes upping the lead to 4-0.  The Home Team fought hard but good chances were hard to come by.  Prouty hit a rocket off the crossbar and had another shot cleared off the goal line by a Brookline defender.  Junior, Lila Doucette had a solid second half and Sturgeon, Freitas and Figueiredo continued their strong play but the Falcons could never get untracked offensively and had difficulties in their own end of the field throughout.  Brookline added a 5th with 11 minutes to play to make the final score 5-0.

"That was a tough game all around for us.  I feel like we played a little intimidated at times out there.  We were very young on the field today and Brookline played with a lot of speed and strength.  Their experienced showed for sure.  However, this was a good test for us.  We play Teams mostly similar to ourselves throughout the regular season so it's eye opening when we go up against a big, Div. 1 power house.  Despite the loss, the girls were positive.  We had a great regular season finishing 12-3-3 with our only losses coming to Brookline and 2 to Masco.  We're well prepared for the tournament where we'll be up against schools similar in size to us.  I know the girls are super excited for it."

The MIAA State Tournament seeds and pairings will come out on Friday, November 1st.  The Falcons are hoping to get a fairly high seed and at least 1 Home game to start the Tournament.