DANVERS — The Peabody girls lacrosse team bounced back into the win column Monday with a dominant 16-6 win over Danvers at Dr. Deering stadium Monday.
Peabody coach Dennis Desroches was pleased to see his Tanners move in the right direction after a loss to Swampscott last Thursday.
“That was rough last game,” Desroches said of the 14-13 loss to the Big Blue. “Obviously we wanted to minimize our turnovers (Monday). We wanted to make sure we controlled the circle. At the end of the Swampscott game they got one or two crucial draws which hurt us. We definitely won in the circle (Monday). That was the big thing.”
Amber Kiricoples played a key role in controlling the faceoff circle with 16 wins.
Offensively, the Tanners were led by Olivia Kiricoples, who scored six goals with one assist, and Colleen Crotty, who scored four goals with one assist. Hailee Lomasney had three goals and three assists while Maddy Lomasney added two goals and two assists. Amber Kiricoples also scored one goal and dished two assists.
Danvers kept pace with the Tanners early in the first half, but lack of possession time hurt the Falcons.
“We weren’t getting possession,” Danvers coach Nico Prandi said. “We couldn’t win the ball in the middle for a period of time. We were a man down tonight. When you’re in that position where you don’t have the same amount of defenders against a good offensive team like (Peabody), they take advantage of it. After that it was tough to win the middle. We turned over the ball too many times and it just became a matter of controlling the ball.”
Early on it looked as though both teams were heading toward a back-and-forth battle. Danvers scored four early goals but Olivia Kiricoples matched each one, scoring the Tanners’ first four goals and tying the game at 4-4 with six minutes remaining in the first half.
“Danvers was very good in the beginning,” Desroches said. “They were able to keep pace with us. Our job was just to win the ball, protect it and just be patient on offense and it would come. We have a lot of great attack players. The idea is to not give up a possession as much as we had in the first 15 minutes. We called a timeout there and the girls started to settle down. That allowed us to control the game.”
From there, the Tanners went on a 10-0 run. Hailee Lomasney got the run started with a goal. Crotty and Olivia Kiricoples each added another a minute apart to give Peabody a 7-4 lead.
After a pair of faceoff wins from Amber Kiricoples, Crotty added another goal. Amber Kiricoples followed with an assist to Olivia Kiricoples, who found the back of the net to give the Tanners a 9-4 lead at halftime.
Peabody continued to control possession in the second half. Maddy Lomasney kept the Tanners on the upswing with a pair of quick scores. Crotty followed with a goal, bumping the lead to 12-4. Hailee Lomasney poured in a pair of goals to seal Peabody’s five-goal rally.
Danvers finally got back on the board with goals from Mackenzie Schmink and Ashley Curcuru but Olivia and Amber Kiricoples each added a goal to ice the 16-6 win for Peabody.
Both teams will have a few days rest before resuming play Thursday. The Tanners (6-1) host Wakefield (4) while the Falcons (4-4) host Swampscott (4).