FRANKLIN – Through its typical mixture of elite velocity and depth, the fourth-seeded Franklin discipline hockey group’s red-hot offense couldn’t be cooled off Wednesday night time as a part of a 6-0 Div. 1 second-round win over No. 13 Winchester.
Raena Crandall scored a aim and dished three assists, pairing with Haley Wernig’s two objectives and Emily Carney’s aim and help to overwhelm the Red and Black from begin to end. Winchester (14-6) had no situation getting the ball on the Panthers’ aspect of the sphere, however couldn’t generate greater than a pair of pictures on aim.
Franklin (19-0-1) received 37 off serving to it rating a minimum of 5 occasions for a sixth straight sport. The Panthers are the final unbeaten group left in Div. 1 and get No. 5 Acton-Boxboro within the state quarterfinals subsequent.
“Every single game, they just keep getting better and better,” mentioned Franklin head coach Michelle Hess. “They’re coming together as a team, they’re executing all the things that we’ve told them, they’re playing clean hockey. … I’m just very happy with the way they’re playing right now and I like the momentum, and I like the energy.”
Winchester goalie Molly Hillier (29 saves) held her personal and the protection had her again with two defensive saves, however Franklin’s deep assault was simply too relentless to stave off.
The Panthers set the tone halfway via the primary quarter when it drew seven of its 17 whole corners in a row, of which Hillier stood her floor on a barrage of pictures to maintain Franklin off the scoreboard. A defensive save got here in that sequence too, although the objectives flooded in from there. Crandall’s rocket from across the stroke line to the back-left nook gave Franklin a lead with 3:54 left within the opening body, and Wernig made it 2-0 from the identical spot simply 30 seconds later.
“I tell them, ‘We’ve got to get down there, we’ve got to generate our offense and we’ve got to score,’ and they’re so capable of doing it,” Hess mentioned. “Eventually, you’re going to wear (the other team) out. (Seven) corners in a row for those girls sprinting back to help out, that wears out their forwards and midfielders. … That (fast start) is kind of one of our philosophies.”
The 10 corners and 16 pictures on aim Franklin generated within the quarter definitely wore Winchester down a bit. Chloe Essam redirected one other rocket from Crandall early within the third to make it 3-0, and Sophia Cuneo (aim, help) slammed in a ship from Crandall on the left put up for a 4-0 halftime lead.
Carney’s aerial shot on a nook on the finish of the third quarter put Franklin up 5-0, and she or he assisted on Wernig’s second aim of the sport later within the fourth.
Aside from the fast, one-two punch early within the first quarter, Winchester made many transitions into the offensive finish following every Franklin rating to threaten. Ava Paragas and Julia Legere led the Red and Black in advancing the ball, however Lindsay Dennett and the remainder of the Franklin protection by no means let every bid flip into any actual risks.
“We work a lot on our transition play, and we work a lot on our diagonal defense,” Hess mentioned. “Our focus this year has been a lot on defense.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com