The Danvers Falcons Varsity Girls Soccer Team traveled to Beverly Thursday afternoon.  The first time the 2 Teams played the game ended with a 3-2 Falcon victory but needed a huge, late goal by Gianna Sutherland to secure the victory.  Since that game, Beverly had struggled coming into the Thursday's match with a 4-7-3 record.  However, with Danvers recent history of games on Beverly's field, the players were reminded that anything can happen on any given day.

 

"We've had all kinds of bad luck playing in Beverly over the last 4-5 years. We've played poorly there many times and the players were reminded that Beverly is still fighting to get a tournament bid in Division 1."

 

Danvers had some solid early chances to score in the game but the freshman goalkeeper for Beverly made some big plays.  Beverly had several of their own offensive chances but missed wide on several of those.  Finally, in the 15th minute, sophomore Liv St. Pierre assisted on a goal by junior, Georgia Prouty.  Only 2 minutes later, the duo combined again to make it 2-0.  That was the lead the Falcons had the last time they played Beverly and the Panthers were able to come back.  The same would be true again as the hosts scored twice in the final 6 minutes of the first half tying the game at 2 going into halftime.

 

"I was pretty upset with the way were were playing.  We spent about 85% of the half in our own end and we were fortunate that Beverly missed wide a couple of times.  We were lacking intensity and Beverly was taking it to us."

 

Danvers moved some player's positions going into the second half and applied a ton of pressure on the Beverly defense.  The Panthers called a timeout after only 4 minutes of play as a result of the new found energy of the visitors.  The Falcons kept the ball in the offensive zone for much of the half and had several near misses.  Krysta Zamejtis put lots of pressure on the Beverly defense and Reese Holland made sure Beverly couldn't keep possession with her aggressive defending.  DeAnna Figueiredo and Lila Doucette were moved from their normal attacking positions to defensive positions and stood out.  Skylar Laws moved from outside back to center back and had a tremendous second half.  

 

Still, with no goals and the clock ticking, it looked as if this would be another unlucky day in Beverly for the Falcons.  Georgia Prouty had a point blank shot that just hit the outside of the post and missed wide.  Lila Flynn hit a long distance shot that was well played by the Beverly keeper.  And on the defensive side, Addi McCarty made a goal line save in front of her own empty net.  Then, with under 2 minutes to play in the game, Liv St. Pierre sent a pass through the middle of the Beverly defense.  Georgia Prouty sprinted onto the ball and won a 50 / 50 battle with the Panther goalie sending her in all alone with the empty goal.  Prouty carefully placed the ball into the back of the net for another late win against Beverly.

 

"That was a nice pass from Liv and Georgia wasn't going to let anything or anyone stop her on that break.  Georgia played so hard today, it was fitting that she got all 3 goals.  Liv was also fantastic assisting on all 3."

 

"I thought we really stepped it up in the second half.  We attacked better and defended better.  We played mostly in their end of the field but give Beverly credit.  They played us extremely tough. We've won some real nail biters this year but give our girls credit.  They had a sub par first half, turned it around the second half and gutted out the win.  We're clearly physically and mentally tired at this point so the weekend is coming at the right time.  A little rest will certainly help."

 

Danvers record improved to 11-2-2 on the season.