September 29, 2023
Danvers 4 - Peabody 0
On another wet Friday afternoon the Danvers High School Varsity Girls Soccer Team hosted the Peabody Tanners for their second match of the season. The Falcons won the first match 4-0 on the road. With no games this week, the players were itching to get back into game action.
Danvers controlled play early on with smooth passing and great runs, creating space. The defensive line played flawless hardly letting the Tanners cross midfield. However it wasn't until the 18th minute that the hosts finally got on the scoreboard. Freshman, Emma Sutherland scored her 5th goal of the season off a cross into the 18 yard area by junior Georgia Prouty. Sutherland was the first goal scorer in the first game when these 2 teams met.
Despite several great chances and a shot that clanged off the Peabody post and out, the Falcons found themselves only up 1-0 at the half.
"The Coaches liked the way we were playing. We were completely controlling play. We were just a little bit off in the attacking third of the field. Peabody did a good job at getting players back defensively and there wasn't a lot of open space in the box. It was great that Emma came through once again for us. She did the same thing against Peabody the first time we played and she's shown she has a knack to score when we need it. Defensively we were sharp all over the field. Skylar Laws played really well at right back and gave us lots of wide options when we attacked on her side of the field. Reese Holland was terrific for us winning balls in front of out back line and getting our possession started. Maddie Dembowski only made 2 saves in the half so we were definitely doing our job defensively."
Danvers got the second goal they were looking for 13 minutes into the second half. Sophomore Liv St. Pierre played a cross on the ground into the Peabody box that senior captain, Krysta Zamejtis "dummied" through her legs to an oncoming Georgia Prouty. Prouty hit a perfect shot into the net and doubled the lead.
"That was so creative of Krysta to let that pass through. She has a great sense of where players are and she has a flair to play with that kind of creativity. That goal was huge and started to open up play for us."
In the 21st minute, Gianna Sutherland got into the scoring act, finishing a cross played by St. Pierre. The final goal for the Falcons came with about 5 minutes remaining. A Peabody defender passed the ball back to her goalie and sophomore Lila Doucette was right there to pressure the goalie and stole the ball from her. She then passed the ball into the empty net for the all out hustle goal. Dembowski made 2 more saves in the second half to complete the shutout, her 4th of the season. With the win Danvers improved to 7-2 on the season overall and 6-1 in league play, just 2 points behind front runner Masco.
"Liv St. Pierre was awesome today. She really played the entire game at a very high level and dominated the middle for us. Her passing was spot on and she had several great shots that just missed by inches. She's always clutch defensively for us as well forcing opponents into mistakes and turnovers."
"This was a good, solid win for us today. Peabody is always a tough game and to beat them twice in a season is a great accomplishment. Everyone on the field played well today. We've had a cold virus going around so it was an interesting week of practice but the girls got through it. Hopefully we can continue to play well into the second half of the season."