SWAMPSCOTT – Danvers came into the states as the number one seed in D2 North with a record of 16-0-3. Coach Jim Hinchion was a little apprehensive as one of the ties on his record was a 2-2 stalemate with Swampscott just a few weeks ago. Danvers had beaten Swampscott 8-0 early in September. The Big Blue were the eighth seed with a record of 11-6-2. The record includes four straight losses because most of the starting team had the swine flu.Danvers advanced in the tournament with a 6-0 win over Swampscott at Swampscott on Tuesday.Last night’s game was a blowout by the Falcons. The game was only two minutes old when the Falcons struck. The two Danvers forwards teamed up for the score. Junior Brittany Russo carried the ball down the left wing, faked out two Big Blue defenders and put a through ball into the area, where Corey Persson picked up the pass and scored against keeper Jesse DePaolo to the short side to put Danvers on top 1-0.Both teams continued the frantic pace up and down the field. Swampscott had the better of the play. Danvers sweeper Kellie Macdonald led the defense that turned away six Swampscott attacks that could have been trouble for Danvers. What the defenders couldn’t stop, keeper Allison Tivnan covered in the net and nothing got through.In the 38th minute, Persson struck again as she took a square pass from Allie Lea, split the last two defenders, went right, drew the keeper with her and launched a rocket past the moving keeper into the open left side of the net. This made the score 2-0, Danvers.With less than one minute to go until halftime, Persson bagged the natural hat trick (three in a row with out anyone else scoring). Macdonald blasted a shot from 35 yards out that hit the crossbar and bounced to Persson, standing 10 yards from the goal. She shot the rebound through a screen and into the right corner of the net. The half ended with the score 3-0, Danvers.The second half started with a new keeper in the nets for Swampscott, Bridget Genoversa-Wong. In the next 18 minutes, Danvers scored three more times to put the game well out of reach.In the 45th minute, Becky Landers took a pass from Persson in the 6-yard box and slid the shot under a diving keeper to up the score to 4-0. Danvers was now in a commanding lead. In the 56 and 58th minutes, Lea scored twice. The first of her two goals was on a pass from co-captain Christina Kaczynski and the second goal on an assist from co-captain Kathleen Landers.The score was now 6-0, Danvers.In the remaining 22 minutes, both coaches substituted freely. The game ended with no further action. Danvers will play again Thursday night at Manning Field in Lynn in a 7 p.m. match with Bishop Fenwick, which defeated Saugus 3-0, also on Tuesday. Fenwick and Danvers hooked up in a nonleague game two weeks ago and Danvers came away with a 2-0 victory.
