DANVERS — What’s different about the Danvers High field hockey team in the early going this season?
Veteran head coach Jill McGinnity didn’t have to ponder that question for long before answering.
“Communication, passion, hustle … and most of all, leadership,” she stated.
All were on display Tuesday at Deering Stadium as a pair of senior captains — Kyla Moroney and Addie Moore — as well as talented freshman Zoie Abell all recorded four points as the Falcons took care of Peabody High, 8-3.
Abell, a natural left-handed player who reverses the flat side of her stick to carry the ball and shoot that way, produced the North Shore’s first 4-goal game of the young season. Moroney finished with a goal and three assists and Moore distributed the all over the field and wound up with four assists, three of those on goals by her ninth grade classmate.
Add in the team’s third captain, Liv Henry (assist) and her all-around command of the field, and the Blue-and-White feel they’re in a good place three games into the 2026 campaign.
“All three captains are incredible leaders; they really want it and are all-in,” said McGinnity, her team now 2-1. “They’re all top notch players; look at the way Addie hustled all game. She won virtually every 50/50 ball and approached each one like ‘This is mine’.
“And Zoie, she was on our JVs as an eighth grader, so we knew what we had coming in her this year. With that lefty shot —and I’m teaching her some tricks so she can go both lefty and righty — that can be hard to defend.”
Peabody High goaltender Mia Covey did all she could to keep Danvers at bay, turning aside an incredible 37 shots.
Kimberly Frank, Peabody’s ever-encouraging first-year head coach, was pleased her extremely young team that dressed just 15 players Tuesday play hard for entire 60 minutes. The payoff was scoring three second half goals: two by sophomore forward Emily Hefler and another from senior captain Liz Moore.
“That’s the way I feel like we can play all the time,” Frank said of her team’s second half showing. “We can do the things that we want to do, but the question is how do we do so consistently from start to finish? But they have the ability.”
Covey, a junior who transferred into Peabody High from Pentucket Regional, stopped 16 shots in the first quarter alone and had 25 stops by the time the halftime whistle sounded.
“Mia kicked butt,” said Frank, who also praised sophomore defender Amayah Fancher (who earned her first varsity assist on Hefler’s second goal), classmate Jordan Darragh at midfield, and eighth grade midfielders Mia Collins and Teagan Palmer.
Abell scored her first goal early and Charlotte Walfield, a junior, added two of her own to give Danvers a 1-0 lead after one period. Lizzy Latusky, another junior, and Abell made it 5-0 by the break.
“It was nice to have them connecting and moving together and really looking for that open space to move the ball down the field,” said McGinnity. ‘And the girls that were on the posts where they were supposed to be scored quite a few times.”
Eva Selaya Mendez earned the win for Danvers, making one first half save. Freshman Ellie Barnes stopped four shots while playing the second half. Henry and Libby Sher and senior Rylee Sheppard, a first-time field hockey player, guided the Falcons defensively, said McGinnity.
Frank remained positive about her Tanners after the contest.
“The girls can do it; it’s just going to take some time, and we as coaches have to give them the grace to understand that it will take time,” said Frank, whose team hosts Malden Thursday and Beverly Friday. “But at the same time, we want to appreciate our small wins.”
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