BEVERLY — Frustrated at halftime after not playing what they felt was their best brand of field hockey, Beverly High head coach Danielle Hartford put it to her team succinctly: start playing the way you know you can.
Gwen Jones, a junior forward, took that message to heart.
Jones scored twice in the second half while freshman goaltender Avery Mason shut the door at the other end of the field, finishing with a 5-save shutout as the Panthers blanked rival Danvers, 2-0, Wednesday at Forti Field.
“Coach was saying at halftime that we weren’t really showing what we can do, that we weren’t showing what Beverly field hockey is,” said Jones, who leads the Orange-and-Black with nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) through a half-dozen contests. “So right from the first touch of the second half, we were pedal to the metal, going as strong as we can.”
Beverly improved to 5-1 on the season and remained unbeaten in Northeastern Conference competition at 4-0. They have turned in four shutouts this far while 11 different players have at least one goal offensively (with 13 players in all having recorded points).
Jones netted the game’s first goal five-and-a-half minutes into the third quarter after taking a pass from captain Fiona Bazin and burying it. She doubled her team’s lead just 52 seconds into the fourth quarter when she worked her way towards the Danvers cage, dribbled around goalie Eva Selena-Mendez (11 saves), and tucked the ball inside the left post.
“It’s something Fiona and I love to do,” Jones said of her first goal. “She takes it down the sideline, which she’s really good at, then sees me in the circle, sends the ball over to me and I one-touch it into the corner of the other team’s net. It’s like muscle memory, where we’re always there for one another.”
“It’s been pretty to watch,” admitted Hartford, saying her team works on watching high end college players pass and how they can assimilate similar plays of their own. “Gwen was hungry; she deserved those goals.”
Part of Beverly’s first half frustration was that Danvers (now 3-3) was playing extremely well. The Falcons communicated well and made smart passes, particularly in the first half, and limited the hosts to just six corners. But they simply ran out of gas over the final two quarters against a stronger, more experienced club.
“I’m really proud of them. Things are starting to click,” veteran head coach Jill McGinnity said of her squad. “When they came out for the third quarter, they were so excited to be playing this amazing team so tough. So when Beverly turned on the jets and scored a few, we got a little nervous. It’s just a point of them believing in themselves.”
Mason, Beverly’s ninth grade keeper, wasn’t as busy (5 saves), but stood her ground when the Falcons made a push; as a result, she was rewarded with her fourth win of the season. Having defenders like captain Nola Redman and sophomore Mia Moschella (“she’s stepped up and become such a force for us,” said Jones) certainly helped.
“Danvers was so good today; they really turned it on early and played us so tough,” said Hartford. “But our girls seem to love just being a second half team and turning it on then.”
Avery LeBlanc, first-time starter Charlotte Bilotti and Sophia Rouisse (who assisted on Jones’ second goal) were other Beverly standouts.
Danvers got great work from center back Live Henry, plus captain Addie Moore and Leah Chiarenza on defense. McGinnity called this Chiarenza’s “best game ever”, and as a result she was awarded the Falcons’ Player of the Game stick by her teammates.
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