Saugus soccer loses rematch with Danvers

SAUGUS – Forty days after the Saugus boys soccer team stunned Danvers for its second straight road win to open the season, the Falcons exacted a measure of revenge Wednesday afternoon with a 6-4 victory at Anna Parker Playground.View Photo Gallery”We certainly remember that game and used it as motivation coming into today,” said Danvers coach Mike Chase, whose team took over first place in a tightly-contested Northeastern Conference (South) with the win.Both halves boiled down to similar plotlines: a pair of strong starts from the Sachems before the visitors pushed back in a big way, guided by a three-goal performance from standout forward Jackson McPherson.Just over 10 minutes into the first session, the hosts grabbed the lead when forwardJorge Chiquillo (2 goals) emerged from heavy traffic in front with the ball on his left foot before an easy finish.Danvers responded shortly thereafter, getting the equalizer at the 26:08 mark from forward Jay McPherson before his brother (Jackson) spaced apart goals — the second on a beautiful shot while falling down.”Jackson played a tremendous game, making the most out of his chances and proving the biggest difference-maker for us in a huge victory that helps our chances at a conference title and a spot in the state tournament,” Chase said.The first of the tallies featured an uncontested and long run down the left sideline before a shooting a well-placed shot just inside the near post.Saugus held a slim 10-8 advantage in scoring chances (5 shots on net) over the opening 40 minutes.A sloppy second half dictated by a bevy of whistles began with Saugus cutting its deficit to one just over five minutes in on a rip from midfielder Guilherme Barbosa (2 goals) that deflected off the hands of keeper Cameron Bornstein (7 saves).”We had strong starts in each half but the bottom line is that Danvers came out and put its shots home and we didn’t,” said Saugus coach Dan D’Amico whose squad remains in playoff contention.McPherson’s third goal off an individual effort at the 28:05 mark preceded the eventual game-winner, a rocket off the foot of midfielder Leo Christopoulos that deflected off the crossbar and in.Owen Andruchow (1 save) and Kurt Martin (6 saves) played 40 minutes apiece in net for Saugus, which was out-chanced 14-7 in the second half.A late flurry of activity saw Barbosa and Spencer Persson, a defenseman, exchange tallies on penalty kicks a minute apart before Chiquillo capped the scoring with seven minutes remaining.”I have to give all the credit in the world to Coach Chase and his team for taking this hard-fought game on our home turf,” said D’Amico. “Hopefully we can build off of this four-goal performance moving forward.”