The Danvers High School Varsity Soccer Team traveled to Bishop Fenwick Friday afternoon for their first non-league game of the season.  The visiting Falcons has already beaten both Beverly and Salem earlier in the week and were looking for the 3rd win of the week.  Danvers dominated early, but had little to show for it on the scoreboard.  Juniors Lila Doucette at forward and Ashley Freitas at midfield came out strong leading the Falcons.  Senior Captain, Brooke Wynott made several great through passes to the forwards, but the Danvers attack wasn't able to finish off the plays.  Center backs, junior Addi McCarty and freshman, Ali Doucette dominated defensively and held the Crusaders to only 1 shot on net the entire half.  With 16 minutes to play in half 1, Lila Doucette got the Falcons on the score board.  Her shot beat the goalie giving the visitors the 1-0 edge.  The play was assisted by Freitas on a pretty pass.   At Halftime, the score remained 1-0.

 

"Defensively we were strong.  We didn't let them get into any dangerous areas on the field and I thought our midfield of Wynott, Freitas and DeAnna Figueiredo did a very good job breaking up possessions and starting our attack.  But we had a few moments where I felt we could have extended our lead and didn't take advantage.  We only had 5 shots on frame which is very low for us."

 

Danvers picked up the level of play in the second half and kept the ball in the B. Fenwick end of the field for extended periods of time.  Freshman left back, Cassidy Randall made some strong defensive plays on her side of the field and freshman defender, Maddie Hannas was equally strong on the right side.  Junior Lila Flynn also locked down defensively in both halves.  Hannas made some great offensive runs up her side of the field as well.  In the 23rd minute, McCarty served a 40 yard, booming ball over the Crusader defense that Dee Figueiredo ran onto.  The speedy junior walked in alone on the goalkeeper and scored giving Danvers the 2-0 lead.  Junior, Sabina Sturgeon came on in midfield when Wynott had to come out for an injury and defended fantastically.  Her aggressiveness in the middle sparked the Falcons.  

 

With less than 10 minutes to play, a Bishop Fenwick attacker took a long range shot that found the back of the Danvers net cutting the lead to 1.  Danvers responded with solid defending down the stretch to preserve the win.  Goalkeeper, Maddie Dembowski made 5 saves on the afternoon for the Falcons.

 

"It certainly wasn't our best game but the girls worked extremely hard and got the win.  Addi McCarty played a terrific game in the back and DeAnna and Lila Doucette really stepped up their games when we needed it.  The win qualified our Team for the State Tournament for the 34th straight season!"

 

Danvers improves to 9-1-1 and will have a very difficult part of their schedule coming up with Saugus, Masco and Lynnfield coming up.