The Danvers Varsity Girls Soccer Team traveled in 2 hours of slow traffic Wednesday evening to battle #2 seed Medfield on a chilly night in the Div. 3 State quarterfinal.  Danvers advanced to this point with a 3-1 win over Newburyport in round 2.  Medfield advanced to their second straight quarterfinal with a 2-0 win over Hanover.

 

"We got to this point when our seniors were freshmen.  It's quite an achievement to advance this far in the tournament but the girls were hungry to get at least a step further.  The ride was long but that is the importance of getting as high a seed as possible.  The girls handled it well though and we had plenty of time to warm up and were ready to battle."

 

Medfield came out flexing their muscles from a season of tough soccer in the always competitive Tri Valley League.  They pressured Danvers early and the visiting Falcons had difficulties moving the ball out of their own end.  Finally, in the 15th minute, the Hosts broke the ice and took the early 1-0 lead.  After the Falcons had difficulty clearing the ball out of their own box, Medfield slid a back past to a midfielder that calmly shot and found the back of the net for the goal.  Only 3 minutes later, the Warriors slipped a ball through the Falcon back line and the Medfield striker finished off a break away to make it 2-0.  

 

"They imposed their will on us early in the game.  They were quicker to the ball and more physical and really backed us into a corner.  We had some chances of our own, but didn't make them pay.  We knew they'd be really good and we had some issue adjusting to their speed."

 

Danvers settled in as the half wore on.  Then with 7 minute left in the half, a questionable call gave Medfield a penalty kick.  They converted to make it 3-0.  The Falcons never stopped working though and with under 3 minutes they looked to have gotten on the board.  Junior center back Addi McCarty sent a long free kick over the top that found classmate Lila Doucette.  Doucette touched the ball over the keeper and into the Medfield net for what looked to be the Falcon's first goal.  However, the play was whistled offside.  About a minute later, Captain Georgia Prouty broke in on the end line and had her cross blocked out of bounds by a defender.  Unfortunately a goal kick was awarded and halftime expired.

 

"The took it to us that first half.  They were the better Team.  However, we had a lot of questionable plays go against us.  We've watched the replay and Lila's goal looked good.  That certainly would have helped.  There was a lot of other stuff too but we just weren't playing at the level we're capable of.  We had come back from deficits a couple of times this season.  We felt that if we made some minor changes and picked up our intensity we could surely get a first goal and then take it from there."

 

The Falcons did exactly just that in the second half.  Only 5 minutes in, Lila Doucette took a pass from Lila Flynn in the box.  Doucette looked as if she was going to shoot on goal with her left, but instead cup back to her right.  She then hammered the ball into the upper right corner for the goal, making it 3-1.  The goal ignited Danvers which started to maintain an edge of play in the Medfield end of the field.  In the 15th minute Danvers got another.  Freshman center back Ali Doucette hit a long serve over the top of the Medfield defense with Prouty running onto it.  The senior captain took the ball in on a break away and put the ball into the back of the next to make it 3-2.

 

"We were a completely different Team in the second half.  Freshmen Maddie Hannas and Ali Doucette did terrific at center back which enabled us to move Addi McCarty up the field a bit.  We also switched to a different formation and it really seemed to free up forwards, Lila, Georgia and Claudia Drakos.  We also started playing much more aggressive defense.  Sabina Sturgeon, Cassidy Randall and Lila Flynn all took turns on the outside and all did very well at slowing Medfield's skilled attack down.  Maddie Dembowski was awesome in net.  She made some keys saves and kept us in a close game."

 

Despite the great comeback, Danvers couldn't find the equalizer.  Attacking players, DeAnna Figueiredo, Gianna Sutherland, Kaia Glover and Liv Page all created chances but the Medfield keeper was up to the challenge.  Defensive mid Ashley Freitas stepped up and competed for every 50 / 50 ball in the middle of the field and won head ball after head ball.

With time winding down under 10 minutes left in the game, the visitors called a timeout to regroup.  Then with 6 minutes remaining, the hosts scored to make it 4-2.  Only a minute later, they made it 5-2.  

 

"Our players played so incredible the second half.  For them to comeback from 3 goals down and be inches away, was pretty amazing."

 

With time winding down.  Georgia Prouty beat her man to the ball off a Medfield goal kick.  She dribbled past a defender and hit a low hard shot that went under the diving arms of the goalkeeper for her second goal of the game.  That goal gave Georgia Prouty her 146th career point, putting her as the number 1 points scorer in Danvers High history, passing Corey Persson's record of 145.  

 

"That was a fitting way for Georgia to end her high school career.  Corey's been the record holder for a long time now and I'm sure she would be proud of Georgia for getting that goal.  It's only fitting that Corey was an All American when she played and now Georgia is one as well.  I'm glad she got the last goal of the game.  I'm so proud of the way the girls responded in the second half.  It will be hard to say good bye to our 10 seniors.  They've been amazing all season long and have brought so much to the program."

 

Danvers finishes the season at 14-4-3.