October 7, 2024
Danvers 2 - Saugus 2
The Danvers Girls Varsity Soccer Team hosted Saugus Monday night. Both Teams came into the game with identical 9-1-1 records and only separated by 3 spots in the latest Power Rankings. This was sure to be a thriller.
"We knew coming in how strong Saugus is. They have a very potent attack with Madison Botta and Shawn Sewell. They've been scoring a ton of goals."
Saugus dictated the pace of play right from the start. Senior goalkeeper Maddie Dembowski was on her game though making big saves early on. Danvers had a couple of early chances on the Saugus net as well but their shots missed just wide.
"We struggled defensively tonight, particularly in the first half. Saugus plays the most direct style we've seen and their forwards got behind our defense several times in the first half. Botta was a handful and we did everything we could to keep her from scoring."
With only minutes before halftime, a Saugus player took a wicked shot toward the Falcon goal. Dembowski reached to her left and made the great reaction save tipping the ball over the crossbar to keep the score 0-0 at halftime. Only minutes into the second half, the Falcons sent Georgia Prouty in on the Saugus net with a defender all over her. Prouty's shot missed just wide keeping the game scoreless. However, the relentless Saugus attack continued after the break and the Sachems took a 2-0 lead on the hosts only 14 minutes into the half on goals by Botta and Sewell. Danvers continued to struggle with the speed of Saugus up top. Soon after the lead, Danvers made some positional changes and play started to go their way.
"We were struggling. The effort was there, but our touch was off and we were making mistakes. We changed a few things and started to see results."
Danvers started getting excellent changes from that point on. The ball stayed in the Saugus end for much of the rest of the game. Junior, Addi McCarty won several air balls as she moved up the field. Sophomore Emma Sutherland beat her defender up the left side of the field several times, making great crosses into the box. Senior captain, Georgia Prouty was all over the field in the offensive end, beating defenders and setting up teammates. Still, the Falcons had nothing to show for their efforts on the scoreboard. Finally in the 23rd minutes the Home Team answered. Georgia Prouty passed to Addi McCarty from 20 yards out. McCarty hit a hard shot on net that the Saugus keeper didn't handle surely. Junior DeAnna Fitgueiredo followed up on the play and pounced on the rebound, scoring the first goal for Danvers. Danvers continued to pressure from that point on, but it wasn't until under 5 minutes were remaining that they got the equalizer. Prouty made another great run past her defender up the left side. She then hit a low, hard cross into the box where junior, Lila Doucette was able to one time it into the side netting for the goal.
"The girls never stopped working tonight. To come back from a 2 goal deficit late in a game like that is not easy to do but they never gave up. Both DeAnna's and Lila's goals were timely and well earned."
Saugus had one last push in them however. With 10 seconds remaining, Botta sent her teammate in on a breakaway. 3 Danvers defenders trailed in pursuit but the Saugus attacker was able to get the shot off. Once again, Maddie Dembowski was there to make the final save of the night.
"Maddie had a terrific game tonight. She made some big saves in key moments and that last one was as good as it gets. She really carried her Team in some moments tonight. Georgia also played at such a high level. Saugus was as good as advertised for sure."
Both Danvers and Saugus improved to 9-1-2 on the season. Danvers next hosts unbeaten Masco Wednesday night at Home.