The Danvers Varsity Girls Soccer Team hosted Lynnfield Saturday night in their annual non-league match.  This game would be the Falcon's Senior Night and all 10 of the Danvers Seniors were recognized and celebrated.  The underclassmen spent hours decorating posters and adorning the stadium with balloons and blue and white streamers.  All of the players wore pink tee-shirts that read, We Love our Seniors.

 

"The stadium looked amazing.  The parents and players put so much time into this event and it was really well done.  The boosters bought flowers for Lynnfield's 8 seniors and all of our seniors received flower bouquets to give to their Families.  It was really a nice pre-game ceremony."

 

The game itself was expected to be a good one.  Lynnfield came into the match with a record of 9-2-1 and were ranked #2 in the Div. 4 power rankings.  Danvers was 9-2-2 and #5 in the Div. 3 power rankings.  The 2 Teams had scrimmaged in pre-season and knew this would be a fight the entire way.

 

"We have so much respect for Coach Mark Vermont and his program.  They are strong every year but this year they have most of their Team back from last year. They made it all the way to the State Semis a year ago."

 

The game went back and forth for the first 10 minutes.  However, in the 12th minute, a couple of Danvers mistakes lead to an easy goal for the Pioneers to take the 1-0 lead.  Only 3 minutes later, they struck again.  Sophomore Kaylee Barrett hit a wicked one timer that Danvers keeper, Maddie Dembowski had no chance on.  Danvers seemed to play out of the funk they were in for the next 15 minutes, getting a couple of chances in the Lynnfield end of their own.  But in the 31st minutes, Lynnfield took advantage of some poor defensive shape by the Falcons and scored on a scrum in front of the Danvers net.  The bleeding would continue.  With only 3 minutes left in the half, Lynnfield was awarded a corner kick.  Junior Addi McCarty did very well to head the serve out of the box.  However, the ball went right to Barret who was at the top of the box.  Barret hammered a ball upper 90 giving herself the hat trick and making it 4-0 right before halftime.

 

"It felt like Masco all over again.  2 of the goals were gorgeous but the first and third goals were preventable.  Even down by so many, we felt that we could still get back into this game."

 

Only 1 minute later, Danvers got the momentum rolling.  McCarty rose above an attacker and headed a ball out to DeAnna Figueiredo who flicked it towards the sideline, rolling out of bounds.  Junior defender, Sabina Sturgeon raced to the ball and played a long serve forward, saving it from going out.  The served ball was collected by senior captain, Georgia Prouty and she beat the defense and the goalkeeper for the Falcon's first score.  The half ended 2 minutes later, 4-1 Lynnfield.

 

"We made a bunch of changes at halftime.  We changed our formation and moved some players to different positions.  One of our strengths is that we have lots of players that can play multiple spots on the field.  Junior, Lila Doucette is our second leading scorer and we moved her to center back where she played the entire second half.  Freshman Maddie Hanas is our usual outside back but we moved her to the other center back position for her quickness in the middle.  Those 2 players dominated the second half for us defensively."

 

The Prouty goal before halftime seemed to ignite the Falcons and they controlled play and had a decisive territorial edge in the second half.  7 minutes in, Sturgeon made another great play, serving a long ball into the box.  Freshman, Kaia Glover collected it and slammed it home with a beautiful shot, cutting the lead to 2.  6 minutes later, Danvers scored again.  DeAnna Figueiredo hit a shot from 20 yards out that the goalkeeper had difficulty handling.  Senior Gianna Sutherland made a sprinting run to collect the rebound and hit a left footed shot towards the far post.  The Lynnfield defense was just barely able to keep it from going in their net but Georgia Prouty was there to place it through the crowd and across the goal line.  Score 4-3, Lynnfield.

 

"Kaia's goal was outstanding.  She was in the perfect place and calmly hit that shot Home.  Kaia played the entire second half at the "9" position and really gave us a lift with her passing and field vision.  Our third goal was great too.  I love that Dee hit that shot from distance and what an amazing follow up from Gianna.  She left footed that shot very well and Georgia was there to make sure it crossed the line."

 

Minutes later, Gianna Sutherland would get another opportunity on a mini breakaway, but a Lynnfield defender pressured her into a savable shot by the goalkeeper.  Defenders Lila Flynn and Cassidy Randall did very well at slowing down Lynnfields dangerous right wing attacker.  Both girls made several outstanding defensive plays.  Addi McCarty, who was moved from her defensive position up into midfield really dominated for 50 / 50 balls and air challenges.  Finally, in the 27th minute, the Falcons tied it up.  McCarty took a ball from midfield, dribbled to her left and sent a left footed ball that got through the Pioneer defense.  Once again, it was Prouty to run onto it and left foot a perfectly placed shot into the Lynnfield net making it 4-4.The game would go back and forth for the final 13 minutes with Home Team having the best chances.  With less than a minute remaining, the Falcons just missed scoring the game winner off a corner kick.  Goalkeeper Maddie Dembowski made 8 saves on the night including 1 huge, breakaway save in the second half.

 

"I'm really proud of the effort of the players in the second half.  To come from 4 goals down to score 4 of your own is extremely difficult and says a lot about the character of this Team.  We came from 2 behind vs. Saugus the other day so we've proved that we're never out of a game.  However, we need to be more poised earlier in matches, not to let games get away from us.  We can't dig such a big hole for ourselves.  Sabina Sturgeon really gave us a boost when she entered late in the first half.  She played so aggressive and so did her teammates once she entered.  She recorded 2 huge assists and really got us going.  She played the entire second half at that relentless pace.  Georgia was unstoppable tonight.  She put it into a different gear and really got our attack going.  She's impossible to stop when she's playing at that pace."

 

"Games like these can really spark a Team.  This was a tough week for us against 3 extremely talented opponents.  I'm proud of my Team but on a night like this I'm most thankful for my Seniors.  They are an amazing group of student athletes that always give 100 percent effort for the Team in everything they do.  I told them before the game that I'm not a huge fan of senior night because it means that the season will eventually be over and they'll be moving on.  My hope is that the Team can continue to play well and take us as deep into November so we can keep these 10 seniors as long as possible.  Abby Rinella, Maddie Shairs, Kayla Houston, Lizzie Owen, Tabitha Sears, Liv Page, Gianna Sutherland, Maddie Dembowski, Brooke Wynott and Georgia Prouty are an incredible senior class. Thank you for your contributions to the Team and your amazing attitudes and leadership."

 

With the tie, Danvers record stands at 9-2-3 on the season with another non-league match schedule for Monday at North Andover, at 1:00.