The Danvers Girls Varsity Soccer Team traveled to Marblehead Wednesday afternoon.  After a nearly hour long bus ride and a 30 minute warm up, the Falcons took the field.  The game went back and forth early with both teams getting shots on frame.  In the 14th minute of play, Danvers goalkeeper Maddie Dembowski boomed a punt that bounced past half field and found players, Georgia Prouty and Lila Doucette racing on to it.  Prouty got a tiny touch which was enough to send the sophomore in alone on the keeper.  Doucette found the back of the next to give the Falcons the 1-0 lead.  Danvers got solid defending from senior captain, Skylar Laws on the outside and center backs Reese Holland and Addi McCarty.  Junior, Dembowski made 10 saves in the first half to keep the visitors in front.  

 

With 5 minutes to play in the half, sophomore middie, Liv St. Pierre found Doucette for her second goal of the half.  The score stayed 2-0 through halftime.

 

"We were playing well, but Marblehead was too.  They were a strong team in the air and were dangerous on corner kicks.  Lila's second goal was a big one to give us that cushion going into the second half."

 

That cushion would be extremely important as Marblehead scored 5 minutes into the second frame.  Off a corner kick, a Marblehead attacker appeared to bump into Dembowski as she was catching the ball but the ref said the play was clean, making the score 2-1.  Danvers continued to rise to the challenge of the Magicians with senior captain Molly Godfried playing very disciplined in the midfield along with St. Pierre.  Junior Brooke Wynott also had a strong game at the striker position with good first touches and pinpoint passing to her teammates.

 

In the 18th minute, Doucette broke through again.  On a break from midfield, Liv St. Pierre played a pass through the seem of the Marblehead defense with her classmate running onto it.  Lila made sure to put it home for her first career hat trick and more importantly, put the Falcons up by 2 again.  Only 3 minutes later, Marblead struck again.  This time, a magician attacker took advantage of a defensive mistake and blasted a shot past Dembowski from 20 yards out.

 

"Things got a little tense late in the game but the Team never panicked.  Sophomore Lila Flynn had a monster game for us on defense.  Especially in the second half... she was beating her player to every ball and challenging for every loose ball.  She really stepped it up today.  Liv St. was smooth in the middle for us and Lila Doucette made the most of her opportunities.  She was clutch."

 

Coach Hinchion also singled out the strong play of senior captain Reese Holland for her commitment to winning balls in the air and  junior Georgia Prouty for her speed and aggressiveness all over the field.

 

"This was a big win for us today.  Marblehead is a good Team and they never stopped fighting.  Even when we were up 2 goals, you knew they were never out of it.  It's important to be able to finish off close games like this and hold on for the victory so today was a positive on many levels."

 

Danvers plays next on Friday, in Andover at 4:30 in their yearly non league clash.