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Franklin Sweeps Andover To Book Spot In D1 State Semis
By Jason Cooke || ValleySportsDaily Editor
ANDOVER, Mass. — With No. 4 Andover applying pressure in the first two sets of Sunday’s quarterfinal bout with No. 5 Franklin, the Panthers leaned on their veterans who had been there before to cruise to a 3-0 win by way of 25-20, 25-22, 25-8 at Andover High School.
Franklin (21-2) advances to play perhaps the hottest team in the tournament in No. 16 Newton South, which has downed No. 1 Chelmsford and No. 8 Brookline en route to the Final Four. That game is slated for Wednesday at Westwood High School (7:15 p.m.).
A talented Golden Warriors team made Franklin work for its second semifinal appearance in the last three years. But Makayla Kuykendall (14 kills, 10 digs, two aces, two blocks) and Olivia Alberti (eight kills, two aces, four blocks) ensured a clean sweep.
“We needed to close it out,” Kuykendall said. “Just to finish strong and finish it out right there. We didn’t want to go to a fourth set or a fifth set. We didn’t want to have that nervous ending.”
Both quarterfinal victories Kuykendall and Alberti have had a hand in have been upsets. Franklin edged No. 2 Haverhill in 2023 to punch its ticket to the semifinals, where it fell to Barnstable.
“My favorite moment throughout all of volleyball was making it to the Final Four a few years ago, and that was like a really big upset,” Alberti said. “So to do it again this year and to also be an upset is such a big moment.”
Andover (18-5) received strong play from Jessie Wang (10 kills, seven digs, block), Naomi Vajda (four digs, eight kills, 10 service aces) and Farah Berty (15 digs), but Franklin’s well-rounded engine was too much to overcome.
“You can’t be ashamed of losing to a team that outplayed you on a given day,” said Andover head coach Dan Young. “And I felt like today they were the better team, so they are deserving to move on.”
The teams were tied at 15 early in the first set in what was a tightly contested game. But Franklin eventually created a 23-20 lead and sealed game one with an ace from Alberti.
“We just had to stay steady,” said Franklin head coach Chris Ridolfi. “We didn’t panic. If you noticed in the first set, I didn’t take a time out. I just let it roll, and I asked them to be steady. They were steady.”
Alberti would notch huge kills in the second set to help Franklin pull away and set the tone in the final set with pivotal kills in the early goings. Phoebe O’Connor (37 assists, three aces, 24 digs) developed a strong connection with Franklin’s hitters.
“The energy overall was really good, so it was able to bring me up,” Alberti said. “And I think the setter-hitter connection all night was really good. We were just pushing really hard through every point.”
After Franklin raced to a 20-12 lead in the middle frame, however, Andover struck back. A pair of Vajda kills cut the deficit before Wang and Camryn Leithead added kills as Franklin’s cushion dwindled to 24-22. Kuykendall spoiled the comeback effort to take the set.
“They keep them on track and they keep them together,” Ridolfi said of Kuykendall and Alberti. “It’s something that you can’t measure. It doesn’t show up on the court, but we would probably be lost without it.”
Franklin’s attack was supplemented by a large supporting cast, including Emerson Delleo (seven kills, two blocks, 14 digs), Gianna Laurello (five kills, three aces, five digs, one block), Emma Cunningham (three aces, 24 digs) and Charlotte Yeulenski (four kills, two blocks).
Ridolfi may be a first-year head coach, but it didn’t take long for him to gauge his team’s determination early in the season to return to Sunday’s stage after a loss in the quarterfinals last fall.
“From the very beginning, they told me this is where they wanted to go,” Ridolfi said. “And they’ve prepped like that, they’ve practiced like that, all of them.”
With a trip to the state finals on deck, Franklin will keep taking every game one point at a time.
“I think we definitely set the tone that this game is like, ‘You got to win this game.’ We were really excited, and we came into this wanting to win. Our goal has always been looking forward and just looking to the next game,” Kuykendall said.
Jason Cooke is the editor of Valley Sports Daily – a sister site of HockomockSports.com. You can contact him at Jason@valleysportsdaily.com and follow him on Twitter at @cookejournalism.
Field Hockey Photos: Franklin vs. Waltham
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Franklin Overcomes Slow Start, Shuts Out Waltham to Reach Elite Eight
By Josh Perry || HockomockSports.com Managing Editor
FRANKLIN, Mass. – After a solid opening couple minutes, Franklin found itself on the back foot. Waltham, coming off its first playoff win in nearly two decades, started Thursday afternoon’s Div. 1 Sweet Sixteen contest at Beaver Pond Field intent on testing the relatively young Panthers and putting pressure on the higher seed.
The Panthers were struggling to move the ball, connect passes, and even get over half. They were pinned back in front of their own goal and the Hawks forced four corners in quick succession. Through it all, the Franklin defense held firm and senior goalie Devon Barry was untroubled.
For the second playoff game in a row, it took Franklin time to get into its usual rhythm but the defense continued to hold firm and give the attack time to click. The Panthers eventually did find their offense, getting goals from senior Addi Weiss and freshman Cade Taccini to beat Waltham 2-0 and advance to a fifth straight quarterfinal.
“They had way too many offensive corners,” Franklin coach Michelle Hess said, “but I don’t really get nervous because we’re good at them. We have a good system, we’ve got it figured out, so I knew we’d be okay, but you just don’t know, they slip one in and that’s the game-changer. We can’t give them up.”
The first quarter was notable for Waltham’s pressure and for the lack of goal-scoring opportunities for either team. Miyana Bahl did find the back of the net for the Hawks, but her shot was outside the circle and Barry smartly watched it roll harmlessly over the line.
Asked about what has made the Franklin defense, which includes senior Ava Lucenta, junior Jossie Camp, and sophomores Clara Blongastainer and Samantha Feigen, Barry explained, “Myself and Ava like to direct traffic around there. We’ve played together so long, we know where to tell people to move. Especially on corners, I’ll step out of the goal. I’ll make sure everyone’s situated, everyone’s calm and taken a breath and we’re set and ready.”
Franklin started to find some joy in the attacking half of the field starting in the second quarter. From a corner routine, Ella Marzullo passed it to Tori Cahill, who slipped a pass on the edge of the circle to Taccini. The freshman looked into the middle and found Marzullo, but the shot was just wide of the post.
Two minutes later, on the second corner in a row, Camp teed up Taccini on the edge of the circle, but the shot blazed past the post.
Finally, with 2:37 left in the half, Franklin got a breakthrough. Blongastainer won possession back for the Panthers and Camp showed great composure to move the ball out of defense. In transition, Taccini fired it into the circle and Weiss was able to settle the ball and blast it through the save attempt from Nina Joannidis.
“It took a little pressure off. It helped them to settle in,” Hess said of the goal. “We’re so young and I think that inexperienced showed a little today. We’ve got to keep working with them, just flush it and don’t let them get in your head.”
One goal is never a comfortable lead. Waltham went back on the offensive for the final couple minutes of the quarter and nearly got a tying goal with no time on the clock. From a late corner, Bahl found Meri Guden in space on the left side of goal but her shot skimmed across the crease and just missed the far post.
The second half was more of what everyone has become accustomed to from the Panthers. Their intensity seemed a little higher and they were pressuring the ball more quickly, forcing turnovers and turning them into chances. Taccini got it started with an interception and she picked out sophomore Penelope Brady on the right side, but her shot flashed across goal.
Late in the third, Caydence Canavan forced a turnover and found Brady on the opposite side, but Joannidis made the stop. Another Canavan steal opened up space for Marzullo to have a run and shot. It was blocked but Taccini pounced on the rebound and forced another save.
The best chance to double the lead came with a minute left in the quarter. Marzullo picked off the ball in midfield and slipped a pass into the run of Brady on the right wing. The sophomore was clean through on goal, but Joannidis stood tall to make the save.
Asked about the play of Franklin’s underclassmen, Barry (who started in goal as a freshman) said, “I kind of know how they feel and the legacy that they want to build. Each of them wants to be part of something great and something really special. We like to say ‘play for your seniors’, play so we all go out on a high.”
One of the standout players in Franklin’s defensive unit was Camp. The junior seemed to always be in the way when Waltham tried to come through the middle and her presence of mind in possession allowed the Panthers to escape danger and get into the attack.
“Phenomenal,” Hess said about Camp’s play. “She has the experience from last year that’s carrying over and I think we found her spot, moving her position this year. I think it helps having her a line back because she has that time and she’s so calm and her IQ is so high that she makes better decisions.”
Franklin got a crucial insurance goal on its eighth corner of the day. Canavan started the play with a pass out to freshman Amelia Manning, who settled the ball for Taccini to wind up and smash it through a crowd and inside the post.
The Panthers almost added another goal from another corner. Lucenta got it started with a pass out to Taccini and, with Waltham defenders racing out to block, found Marzullo for a shot that skipped wide.
“I think we’re always holding each other accountable and lifting each other up because we know what’s on the line,” Barry replied when asked about the consistency of the program to be back at this stage for the fifth season in a row.
She continued, “If you lose, you go home, so I think we all have that thought in our heads that we don’t want it to be our last chance. We always like to think one game at a time, so whatever we can do to get to that next game.”
Franklin (15-2-3) will face No. 10 Hopkinton in the quarterfinal on Monday afternoon at Beaver Pond Field. The Panthers will be looking to secure a spot in their third Final Four in program history (all have come in the last five years).
Flynn’s Heroics Lift Franklin Past Wellesley In Penalties
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Field Hockey Photos: Franklin vs. Woburn
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Franklin Shakes Off Rust in First Round, Runs Past Woburn
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.
Volleyball Photos: Franklin vs. Braintree
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Franklin Takes Care of Business Against Braintree in First Round
By Josh Perry || HockomockSports.com Managing Editor
BELLINGHAM, Mass. – Every coach will tell you that the opening round of the playoffs can be the most difficult as teams have to cope the different atmosphere and the pressure of a win-or-go-home tournament match.
Franklin went into its Div. 1 round of 32 match against Braintree having to deal with the rust of having not played a competitive match in 10 days and being forced to move down the road and play its “home” game at Bellingham High (an annual issue because the town takes over the school’s gym for elections).
The Panthers shrugged off all of those challenges on Saturday afternoon, rolling to a comprehensive 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-13) win and advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. It was Franklin’s 13th win in a row and the Panthers have only dropped three sets total during that stretch.
“It was important,” Franklin coach Chris Ridolfi said about Franklin getting off to a strong start to the match. “We haven’t played in a long time. So, it was important that we shook off a little of the rust and came out strong.”
When asked about the challenge of not playing at home, he added, “It’s hard. They earned it, but it is what it is. We scrimmaged here on Thursday on purpose to get ourselves used to it and we treated it like a home game.”
As the favorite, Franklin wanted to avoid giving the Wamps any momentum to start thinking about an upset. Mission accomplished. The Panthers served well right from the start, Emerson Delleo had a pair of aces to open the match and Olivia Alberti and freshman setter Phoebe O’Connor (30 assists) added two more to open up a 9-4 lead.
Franklin’s depth on the front line made it difficult for the Wamps. Makayla Kuykendall (15 kills, 11 digs, three aces) blasted a kill and then blocked another for a point. Delleo (eight kills, four aces, and 10 digs) followed with a block and managed to finish off a tough set with a deft tip into an open space. She then picked the perfect angle on a cross-court shot to score another.
Kuykendall smacked one off the block and Alberti had back-to-back aces as the Panthers led 18-9. Braintree tried to get a run started with a kill from Norah Downey and a block from Zerena Chung, but each time Franklin answered back. Sophomore Charlotte Yeulenski got a kill and Kuykendall had consecutive aces to push the lead to 22-14.
Delleo gave the Panthers set point and libero Emma Cunningham (12 digs and five aces) closed it out with Franklin’s ninth ace of the first.
“We try to be the more physical team,” Ridolfi explained. “So, if we can add a little physicality and make them run around a little bit, that’s what we try to do.”
Momentum carried into the second, with Franklin racing out to a 17-5 lead. Kuykendall continued to stand out, getting a big swing off a Braintree hand and then finding the court with an accurate tip. Cunningham dropped in two aces in a row and Alberti followed with a pair of blocks. Gianna Laurello (seven kills and five digs) got in the act as well, adding a kill and a block to pad the Franklin lead.
To their credit, the Wamps never let the energy dip and stayed engaged in the match. Braintree started to chip away with a block from Stella Lam, a kill from Downey, and an ace from Lauren Caranog to get the lead down to eight (18-10).
Kuykendall responded by smashing one down the line. After an ace from Joely Wang made it a seven-point lead, Kuykendall dropped one just inside the back line. Braintree would get as close as six points on a kill from Izzy Rotondo, but a hitting error and then another perfect, cross-court swing from Delleo put the Panthers on the brink of the next round.
The Wamps got the opening point of the third, but it would be Braintree’s only lead of the match. Franklin came right back, winning 10 of the next 11 points and essentially putting the match out of reach.
Emerson Stewart came in and gave Franklin a lift, getting a kill and a pair of aces. Laurello and Yeulenski added big swings as well to build the lead. Kuykendall blasted one off the block, Yeulenski had a nice tip, and Kuykendall got another ace to push the advantage to 13-4. After a great rally in which Franklin scrambled to save the point multiple times, Alberti (four blocks and three aces) ripped a shot down the middle.
Downey got back-to-back points but Laurello’s kill made it 23-10. Kuykendall set up match point with another pinpoint swing down the line and, after a couple of points for the Wamps, she would do it again on the final point to send the Panthers into the next round.
“We just play our game and find our spots when we can pull away,” Ridolfi said about his team’s approach. “That’s what we did each of those sets. We were kind of playing them point-for-point, we got one server who got hot and one rotation and we pulled away. Then we tried to settle in and play with the lead.”
Franklin (19-2) will face No. 12 seed Lincoln-Sudbury in the Sweet Sixteeen, with the match likely taking place on Wednesday back at Bellingham High, although the final date and time haven’t yet been announced.
Boys Soccer Photos: Mansfield vs. Franklin
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