By Josh Perry || HockomockSports.com Managing Editor
FRANKLIN, Mass. – It had been nearly two weeks since Franklin closed out the regular season with a win against Bishop Feehan. Inevitably, the Panthers took a little while to find their footing in Monday afternoon’s Div. 1 tournament opener at Beaver Pond Field.
Once the Panthers got up to speed, things went according to plan. Franklin scored three times in the second half and rolled to a 4-0 win against No. 31 Woburn to get back into the Sweet Sixteen.
“A little slow to start,” Franklin coach Michelle Hess admitted. “The break was good because we had some injuries but yeah we’ve got to get back to the routine. We’ve got to get back to playing and you play against each other so much it gets monotonous. And, I have a young team, so I think we had a little bit of nerves.”
Franklin struggled to connect passes and create scoring chances in the opening quarter. With 8:20 left in the first, the Panthers got a corner and Ella Marzullo fed the ball to the goal mouth where Ava Lucenta was stationed but her tip was cleared off the line by Woburn’s Emerson Lilley.
A couple minutes later, Clara Blongastainer pushed up from defense and picked out Marzullo in the middle. She tried to connect with Penelope Brady on the far post but Norah Poncia was in the way and cleared.
Things started to pick up for the hosts in the second quarter. Freshman Cade Taccini had a shot from distance that was kicked aside and Marzullo had two chances inside the circle — the first was blocked and the second hit off the outside of the net.
Hess explained, “They were pressing us pretty good, so we figured out that we had to switch the field and open up the field a little bit more. Physical team, they’re tough to get by.”
With nine minutes to go in the half, Tori Cahill slipped a pass into the run of freshman Lila Reardon, but her touch was just wide of the post. Taccini was controlling the midfield and she played a pass to Reardon, who cut it across for classmate Lily Aparo but the ball was kicked out.
The breakthrough finally came on the fourth corner of the night. Lucenta started it with a pass to Blongastainer at the edge of the circle. Her blast was redirected by Aparo to Marzullo, who in turn fed Cahill on the post for a tap in.
Franklin kept pressing and had another good chance off a corner. Caydence Canavan played the ball across the circle to Cahill, who was denied her second goal by a nice save from Jillian Machnik. Lucenta had a chance on the rebound but could only steer it onto the post from a tight angle.
Hess urged her team to not let up in the second half and to put the game away. The Panthers responded to their coach’s message.
“The second half was so much better,” she said. “I challenged them that I wanted two goals in the third and they went out there and were able to do that, so I was happy with that. Our corners were a little off today, so that’s something we’re definitely going to focus on going forward.”
Marzullo nearly doubled the lead just 30 seconds into the third when she cut across the circle from right to left and forced a save from Machnik. Addi Weiss sent a ball across goal for Cahill at the back post but there was no touch and it went out. Marzullo then teed up Brady for a close-range chance that looked like it crossed the line before it was cleared. Again Lucenta was close on the rebound but Woburn survived.
Two goals in 32 seconds finally put the game away for the Panthers. With 1:35 left in the third, Brady was able to roll one through a crowd and find the back of the net. Almost immediately after, Brady’s pass found Marzullo open in the middle of the circle and she fired one inside the post to make it 3-0.
Franklin maintained control in the fourth (Devon Barry was only forced into one save in the game), but the attacking opportunities slowed down with the result just about settled.
There was time for another of Franklin’s underclassmen to notch her first playoff goal. Aparo was well-positioned on the post and she knocked in a loose ball to seal the win.
Asked about her younger players, Hess said, “They can level up. Sometimes they’ll play down a little bit and I say, no, we always have to play our game. Once they started getting into the groove, it definitely opened up.”
Franklin (14-2-3) will be back at Beaver Pond Field on Thursday afternoon to take on No. 18 Waltham, which upset Lexington in the opening round.
