The Danvers Varsity Girls Soccer hosted the Saugus Sachems Tuesday afternoon for an N.E.C. showdown.  Saugus came into the match with a record of 9-2-1 and had been playing many of the top teams in the league very tough.  Danvers came in with an 8-4-3 mark and a modest 2 game winning streak.  

 

Danvers put some pressure on the Saugus defense early and often in the first 10 minutes.  Danvers was awarded 6 corner kicks in the first half and had several good opportunities off of serves from Georgia Prouty and Cali Abbatessa.  Off the first corner of the game from Prouty, junior Reese Holland leaped into the air and sent a header just over the crossbar.  The Danvers defense also played well with center back Mikayla Shaffaval and outside back Ryley Crosby making several key defensive stops early in the game.  The Falcons possessed and moved the ball well but still struggled in the attacking third of the field.  With under 10 minutes remaining in the half, Danvers finally got on the score board.  Freshman Lila Doucette beat her defender and dribbled to the left side end line and sent a cross in the air into the box.  Senior captain Ellie Anderson brought the ball down out of the air with her foot and slid a low shot into the right corner of the net for the goal.  She beat both a defender and the Saugus keeper on the play.  With the lead, Danvers struggled a bit in it's own end of the field.  Less than a minute after Anderson's goal, a Saugus player walked in alone on the Danvers goalkeeper, Emily Goddard.  Goddard made a point blank save to keep the lead.  Shortly after, Doucette was sent in on a breakaway on the Saugus goal.  However, her shot missed just to the left of the post.  The score would remain 1-0 into halftime.

 

"We played great for the first 30 minutes.  We spent a lot of chances and couldn't get the goal we were looking for, but we were dominating play.  Then, once we got the lead, we struggled.  We definitely caught some breaks to still be up by 1 goal at halftime."

 

Danvers continued to pressure in the second half, looking for an insurance goal.  Saugus continued to attack looking to tie the score.  Fairly early on a bouncing ball was played behind the Danvers defense which Goddard came screaming out of her box to win the 50 / 50 ball.  Not long after, freshman Addi McCarty played a nice pass to the right side of the Saugus box.  Junior Molly Godfried hit a shot that the Saugus keeper had to dive and extend to save.  The rebound went just out of reach of senior Katie Walfield who had made a run for the back post.

 

"It was back and forth for a bit.  Emily made that huge play and then Molly had a great shot that the keeper saved.  It was pretty clear that the next goal was going to be a major factor in the final result of this game."  

 

About 15 minutes in, Saugus was awarded a corner kick.  The kick found an attacker that hit her shot right towards the near post, but senior defender, Ryley Crosby was there to clear the chance away.  Crosby's clear went about 30 yards where it found an on rushing Ellie Anderson.  Anderson dribbled through 2 Saugus defenders before her pass found a streaking Georgia Prouty.  Prouty outran the Sachem defense and broke in alone on goal.  She calmly slotted a shot to the left and scored to make it 2-0 Falcons.

 

"That was an amazing play all around.  That's the fourth time this season that Ryley has cleared a ball off our goal line.  After her clear, Ellie ran through, it seemed, 3 defenders.  That was all pure hustle on her part.  It was great of Georgia to be able to finish that awesome sequence.  We needed that second goal."

 

The Falcon attack didn't stop there.  Junior Krysta Zamejtis found herself outworking her defender and played a pass to Doucette, who found a wide open Teagan Price.  The senior captain ripped a shot to the upper part of the goal that the Saugus keeper was just able to tip over the crossbar for the save.  About halfway through the half, Zamejtis collected a cleared corner kick and sent a cross into the box.  Saugust was able to hit the ball out of their box but it went right to senior midfielder, Courtney Hinchion.  Hinchion 1 timed a shot over the keeper's head and into the back of the net, increasing the lead to 3.  With about 5 minutes remaining in the game, Danvers got a fourth.  Godfried played a ball to freshman, Liv St. Pierre who made a side pass to Prouty.  The Falcon leading scorer took 2 dribbles to her left and drilled a low shot into the right, lower corner of the net.  The game would end minutes later with the Falcons winning 4-0.  Goalkeeper, Emily Goddard made 12 saves, helping her Team earn it's 7th shutout.  

 

"We played very well at times today, but also went through some stretches where we made some uncharacteristic mistakes.  We'll need to clean those up if we want a shot at beating Beverly on Thursday.  They'll make us pay for mistakes like that."

 

"We got some great play from Molly Godfried today on the right wing.  She was composed and helped move the ball well.  Ryley Crosby had a terrific game on defense and Mikayla Shaffaval also played well back there.  Ellie, Courtney and Emily all had strong games too."

 

With the win Danvers improved to 9-4-3 on the season and hosts the Panthers Thursday night.

yay night.