Girls soccer: Danvers, Swampscott play to a draw

Danvers and Swampscott, the cream of the crop in the Northeastern Conference South, battled to a 2-2 tie Friday with the Big Blue controlling the first half and the Falcons the final 40 minutes.Swampscott (10-2-2) took a 2-0 lead in the first half on goals by Merry Ball and Casey Connolly (Jen Cleary assisted on both). Danvers (13-0-3) cut the lead in half 20 minutes into the second half on a goal by Allie Lea (Brittany Russo assist) and then tied it with about 10 minutes left on a goal by Corey Persson (Tess Saunders assist).”It was a really great game,” Swampscott coach Francesco Recchia said.Danvers coach Jim Hinchion agreed.”It was two very different halves. They were all over us in the first half, and in the second half, we took it to them,” he said.Pentucket 4, St. Mary’s 0At Pentucket, the game was called before the end of the first half after St. Mary’s sophomore forward Rachel Stueve and a Pentucket player were involved in a violent collision. The two smashed heads and fell to the ground. Spartan coach Jim Foley said initially Stueve was not moving her legs. He said she suffered a concussion, but was moving her legs by the time she was taken by ambulance to Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport.St. Mary’s is 6-8-1 with three games remaining against Swampscott, Spellman and Fontbonne.Marblehead 2, Saugus 0At Saugus, Mary Keroack and Emma Crowley scored for Marblehead in the first half and then left it to the defense to keep Saugus off the board. Jackie Strangie and goalie Melissa Toomey played well for the Sachems (9-6). Marblehead is 7-6-2 with Winthrop on tap Tuesday. The Magicians need two points out of their final three games to qualify for the state tournament.Salem 3, English 0At Bertram Field, the game was scoreless for the first 65 minutes, but Salem owned the final 15 minutes. Keeper Brittany Goulet, Shannon Kidney and Hayley Mah played well for the Bulldogs (5-10-3).Fenwick 3, Masco 3At Fenwick the Crusaders (5-4-5) still need three points out of their final four games to make the tournament. They led 3-1 in this one with 20 minutes left, but Masco, known for its explosive offense, got right back in the game, coming up with the tying goal with 11 minutes remaining.Kristin Verrette had two goals and an assist for Fenwick and Brittany Dolan had one goal. Jill Dean played an excellent game in net. The game was tied, 1-1, at the half.Peabody 8, Beverly 3At Peabody High, the Tanners (13-0-1) had the offense cranking and as has been the case all season, it was the freshman contingent of Hayley Dowd and Victoria Digiacomo doing the bulk of the damage. Dowd scored four goals to lift her season total to a lofty 33 goals and 13 assists. Digiacomo, who had one goal, has 17 goals and nine assists and Emily Manoogian, who also scored, now has 11 goals and 15 assists. Katie Brunelle and Angela Ellison rounded out the scoring. Brienna Griffin was in net.Gloucester 4, Winthrop 1At Gloucester, Kayla Aceto scored for the Vikings with the assist going to Jenny Fucillo. Winthrop is 3-11-1. Nicole Black played well in net.