NEEDHAM, Mass. - Franklin goalie Alex Mitchell made 17 saves and helped keep the Panthers in the game in the second half, but it was not enough to stop Needham (8-0) from earning a 9-6 non-league victory on Thursday afternoon at Memorial Field.
“I think it’s very simple -- it’s just the draws; we didn’t have the ball,” said Franklin coach Kristin Igoe. “Other than that, I think we’re very evenly matched teams -- they just had the ball a little bit more and finished off their goals. I think we had one shot in the second half, but I’m glad that we had competition like that to learn from.”
Needham jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by Kailey Conry and leading scorer Catherine Conley, but Franklin (8-1) answered back with a goal by junior Julianne Pisani. The goal seemed to spark the Rockets back into action and Conley scored another then fed Sarah Conley for the fourth.
After Needham made it 5-1, it seemed as though the perennial Division 1 South power was going to pull away for an easy victory. One of the reasons for the dominant start was a 5-2 lead on draw controls. However, the Rockets could not put Franklin away.
Sheelagh Walsh gave the Panthers momentum with a free position goal that made it 5-2 with 4:58 left in the first half. Off the ensuing draw, Marta Versprille got going with a great run and finish on a restart from the halfway line.
With 1:34 left in the half, Emily Jeffries scored her first goal of the game on a free position to bring the Panthers back within a goal. In the final 30 seconds, Pisani made a perfect pass across the middle for Versprille, who one touched the shot past the stick of Needham goalie Annee O’Connor to tie the game heading into the half.
“Every single year they come very disciplined, very athletic, very well coached, and it’s something that we knew that it would be a tight game and that it would come down to draw controls and loose balls,” said Needham coach Beth O’Brien.
She added, “At halftime, it was a 0-0 game in our minds and our goal was to control the possession of the ball as much as possible. I think we did a good job in the second half of not forcing things in the offense.”
Despite having momentum heading into halftime, Franklin could not overcome the deficit in draws (winning only 6 of 18) and the Rockets controlled the ball for most of the final 25 minutes. Even without the ball, the Panthers made it difficult for the hosts to get on the scoreboard and Igoe spoke highly of the team’s defensive effort.
“I’m very proud of our defense; I just think we gave them too many chances,” she said. “Credit to our defense -- they did a great job.”
Junior Audrey Walsh gave Needham back the lead with an early goal but Jeffries answered back almost immediately with her second free position goal of the game. At 6-6, Needham had a number of good chances but was denied by Mitchell, who seemed to always make the right move and showed quick reactions to deny both Conleys and Walsh in quick succession.
“She had an awesome game -- it probably would’ve been a lot worse, if she hadn’t saved it,” said Igoe. “But, again, we’re giving up too many shots and too many opportunities. We need to fix that.”
O’Brien also praised the Franklin goalie. She said, “She’s very deceiving. She’s a small goalie but is very athletic. You have to throw in a fake. She’s a very good goalie and she’s going to make a lot of saves.”
Mitchell good not deny the Rockets for the entire half and Walsh picked out Conry with a high pass that she gathered and finished with a perfect bounce. Catherine Conley looked to have broken Franklin’s resistance with a free position goal but it was ruled out for an illegal stick.
The renewed life for the Panthers was shortlived as Sarah Conley took advantage of a turnover in transition to race through the center of the defense and finish to make it 8-6. Needham clinched the win on a Katie Belval free position, empty net goal.
“[It’s] just protecting our stick and getting the ball to our attackers,” said Igoe about Franklin’s inability to get out in transition against Needham’s pressure defense. “We struggled a little bit with connecting our passes and we had done better than we could’ve scored more.”
Although it was not the result that Franklin had hoped for, especially after beating the Rockets last season, there were plenty of positives for the Panthers to take away from it.
Igoe said, “We don’t really learn from 18-1 wins so I’m glad that we had this experience and we know what we need to work on to hang with Needhams and Westwoods and the Notre Dames. They’re going to get yelled at a little bit, but I’m not terribly mad because they can learn a lot from it.”
Franklin will be back in action on Friday against Attleboro with a trip to Dartmouth coming on Saturday.
Josh Perry can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.