FRANKLIN, Mass. - It felt more like the end of the winter season than the start of spring with piles of snow lining Pisini Field and a cold wind whipping through, but Needham and Franklin opened the girls’ lacrosse season with a battle of two teams with aspirations of making noise in the, presumably, much warmer month of June.
It was the visiting Rockets that would get the season off to a perfect start by dominating draw controls (21-5) and getting hat tricks from three players, including five goals from Kailey Conry, to pull out a 15-9 victory.
“We didn’t have the ball enough,” said Franklin coach Kristin Igoe Guarino. “I think it would have been a much closer game or we could have won if we had just won five more draws. We didn’t possess the ball as much as they did.”
Just two seasons ago, in Igoe’s first season, Franklin defeated Needham and shocked many observers of girls’ lax across the state. Two years later and the program can be disappointed in not picking up a win against one of the state’s perennial powers.
Igoe Guarino said, “They’re a little disappointed in the loss but they want to get better and that’s all I can ask for.”
Needham scored the opener less than four minutes in with Audrey Walsh finding space in the middle to make it 1-0, but within a couple minutes junior Emily Spath responded with a transition goal off a feed by Julianne Pisani. The Panthers took a 2-1 lead on a free position finish by senior Emily Jeffries.
The lead would last less than a minute before Conry scored her first to tie it. The Rockets would then add two more to open up a lead before Jeffries scored her second. Conry and Walsh each reached hat tricks before halftime to build the Needham lead to 7-3, but with just 12 seconds left Jeffries, who is heading to UMass next year, got her hat trick on another free position.
Franklin only won two draw controls in the first half and that issues would continue to cause problems after the break and the Rockets would score four of the next five goals to open up an 11-5 lead. Caroline Walsh combined with Conry to get to her hat trick, while Conry added two more of her own.
“Caroline was unexpected to take care of the draw and put three in the back of the net,” said Needham coach Beth O’Brien. “Kailey and Audrey have just worked incredibly hard and they work very well together, so it’s nice having them both out there.”
Igoe Guarino said, “I thought our defense played really great…we made some stops but then they got second chances. We couldn’t win the 50-50 balls and they’d get a goal and win the draw and come right back down and we’d have to play defense again.”
She added, “Our defense was really tired but I’m really proud of them because for the most part they played really well -- they just played too much.”
The Panthers did not give up despite falling behind. Junior Kenzie Pleshaw scored on a pair of free positions, one to the top corner and one to the bottom corner off the goalie’s stick, to cut the lead to just four.
After Audrey Walsh got one back for Needham, her fourth of the game, Kendall Reardon picked out Julia Jette in transition for a goal that made it 12-8. Pisani hit the post with 4:07 remaining and then three minutes later Pleshaw picked out Jette for her second to make it 12-9.
“All these girls are really competitive and they’ve worked really hard,” said Igoe Guarino, “but I told them that they can’t just settle with where we are right now. We have a lot of work to do.”
She continued, “They’re a great team, very smart, well-coached and it kind of shows us what we need to work on. I’m kind of glad we got to play them first; you don’t want to get complacent early.”
The Rockets tacked on two goals in the final 24 seconds to make the final score much larger, but the Panthers left the field with confidence, as the program continues to move forward with the desire to be consistently among the top teams not only in the Hockomock but in the state.
“Having a competitive game with Needham is great,” explained Igoe Guarino. “Just starting in practice we’re at a higher level than before. We’re not just partner passing; we’re doing a lot more and I think that just shows how hard the girls worked in the off-season and how committed they are to the sport.”
Click HERE for a photo gallery from the game.
Franklin will open its league season at Canton on Wednesday.