Girls' Soccer Team Falls Short Against Falcons

's girls’ soccer team fought back from a 3-0 deficit Tuesday afternoon, but fell short in their comeback attempt, losing 4-2 to Danvers.

Gabby Carrick and Monica Thorne chipped in with their first goals of the season for the Magicians, and goalie Cassie Rodgers continued her strong play to start the season, stopping 18 shots Tuesday.

Danvers jumped ahead 2-0 at the 21:23 mark of the first half when Falcon co-captain Corey Persson scored her second goal of the game. Persson picked up an assist with 2:13 remaining in the half when she set up Kylie Plaza to make it 3-0.

Gabby Carrick sent Marblehead into halftime with a boost when she raced down the left sideline after picking up a pass from Emily Freedland and slid the ball past Danvers goalie Mia Koutoulos with 17 seconds to play, slicing the lead to 3-1 at halftime.

After a sluggish first half, dominated by the Danvers front line, Carrick’s goal gave her team a lift and Marblehead played much better to start the second half.

"Much stronger effort in the second half than the first half," head coach Tracy DeLuca said. "Cassie helped keep us in the game."

Rodgers was tested time and again by Persson, Plaza and Kristin Yost in the second half, but she held the fort until Thorne made it 3-2 at 17:54.

Sophomore Sydney Cayen made a nice chip pass to Thorne and her shot went off of Koutoulas’s arm and into the top of the net, and Marblehead was on the verge of a stirring comeback.

Danvers (3-1) sealed the win with 12 minutes to play when Persson completed her hat trick off a pass down low from Plaza.

“We knew Marblehead wasn’t going to quit when we went up by three,” Danvers coach Jimmy Hinchion said. “They played us tough and almost came all the way back, we’re fortunate to have a player like Corey (Persson) up front for us.”

“We gave up way too many good scoring chances,” Marblehead coach Tracy DeLuca said. “Cassie played great in goal for us, we played better in the first half than in the second half, but it’s hard to come back from three goals down against a team with the forwards that Danvers has.”

After opening up the season with a 3-3 tie with Bishop Fenwick, Marblehead dumped Winthrop 4-2 on two goals by Emily Freedland. The Magicians are 1-1-1 with a game on the road against Peabody on Thursday afternoon.