The Danvers Girls Varsity Soccer Team opened up with their first game of the season Wednesday night, under the lights at Dr. Deering Stadium.  It was the first day of school for the players and the Team's first game of the regular season. They were looking to protect their Home field and defend their league title from a year ago.  Danvers vs. Peabody match ups have often been a physical, athletic battle and this contest would be no different.

 

Danvers came out a little defensive to open up the game.  Peabody played in the Danvers end of the field, though they had no real scoring chances early.  Danvers had a few of their own however, with senior mid Courtney Hinchion's shot just missing high only minutes into the game.  As the half wore on Danvers got stronger and stronger and it seemed just a matter of time before the Falcons got on the score board.  Eventually, sophomore midfielder Georgia Prouty cashed in with the first goal of the season, assisted by freshman, Olivia St. Pierre.  Junior Skylar Laws came off the bench midway through the half and immediately made a positive impact with her intense, physical play.  

 

"Skylar was awesome tonight.  She really gave us a boost in that first half and the players seemed to really feed off of her intensity.  That was so great to see from her in her first varsity game."

 

Danvers would have several more good scoring opportunities but fail to find that second goal.  Falcon net minder Emily Goddard made a huge break away save only minutes before halftime to keep the hosts ahead, 1-0.  

 

"We started off the game giving them too much space in the middle of the field.  We were a little timid.  However, once we adjusted and started closing down their space, it made a big difference for us."

 

Danvers came out extremely aggressive in the second half and kept the ball in the Peabody end.  Senior defender and captain, Mikayla Shaffaval led the defensive effort from her center back position.  She played all 80 minutes and made some huge tackles with the game still in the balance.  Junior Reese Holland also rose to the occasion defensively.  She played both on the outside as well as in the center with Shaffaval and continuously won 50 / 50 battles. 

 

About halfway through the second half, Prouty struck again.  Off another feed from St. Pierre, the sophomore drilled a low shot from 20 yards out that found the back of the net giving the Falcons a little more comfort. Danvers got great efforts from senior midfielder Courtney Hinchion who made endless runs up the left flank of the field and made some important defensive tackles.  Freshman Lily Delafano used her speed on defense several times to stop a Tanner attack. Both senior forward Katie Walfield and junior middie Molly Godfried stepped up their play in the second half in the Falcon attack.  

 

When 80 minutes had hit, the Falcons had won their first game of the season, 2-0 over their rival opponent.    

 

"Georgia and Liv really paced our attack tonight.  They both had incredible games.  I was also super pleased with the steady defense of Mikayla.  She really played hard tonight and stood out defensively.  This was a solid first win for our club and I feel we can takeaway a lot of positives.  It's probably going to take us a while to finally figure out what kind of Team we're going to be, but this is certainly a terrific start."

 

The Falcons will travel to Masconomet on Friday for a 4:00 battle with the Chieftans.

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