FRANKLIN — “She’s-a-fresh-man.”
That’s what Franklin field hockey teammates chanted while jumping up and down on Beaver Pond Field Monday night, moments after freshman Cade Taccini roofed a penalty stroke under a steady rainfall to propel the second-seeded Panthers (16-2-3) over No. 10 Hopkinton, 2-1, in double overtime of a Div. 1 state quarterfinal.
Head coach Michelle Hess put faith in a younger lineup all year after graduating a standout senior class.
Now, set to play No. 3 Wellesley on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the state semifinals at Westborough High, Franklin is headed to its third Div. 1 Final Four in five years.
“Honestly, getting that stroke was just like — I knew,” Taccini said of the game-winner. “We practiced it at practice like all year-round. I knew that was my moment; I had to capitalize on it. … Honestly, I don’t even remember it. I just remember putting the ball on the line, and I just had to — I knew my spot. I’ve done the same sweet spot, and I just knew I had to score that.”
The Hillers finish at 9-7-5, but not without a commendable fight.
After beating No. 23 Brookline in overtime in the first round and upsetting No. 7 Concord-Carlisle in the second via shootout, Hopkinton limited a Franklin attack missing Ella Marzullo because of an injury in warmups. It only trailed by one when the Hillers drew two corners as regulation time expired, and star senior Ella Fowler buried the game-tying goal to force overtime.
Neither group could score in the first overtime, but Taccini was money on the penalty stroke assessed in the second — hitting the top netting of the left corner.
“Wild,” Hess said. “In all my years, I’ve never experienced anything like that. That was wild. … I knew as soon as they called that stroke, I knew it was going to be Cade. She’s got the strongest shot on our team, and I had faith in her.”
Maturity of the young group was tested. Rain picked up. Fowler’s goal was the first shot on net Franklin’s standout defense allowed all game, and that it missed one of its top offensive players for sudden-death overtime.
The Panthers didn’t skip a beat though, controlling possession for much of the extra time to eventually move on.
“(Hopkinton) scoring with no time left was pretty crushing,” Hess said. “I walked over to my team and they were like, ‘We’ve got this.’ They were still in it to win it. … They played out of their minds tonight, they really did. They really wanted this game and they wanted to send a message to show that we could get back to the Final Four. So, (it’s) pretty exciting.”
“We knew what we had to do and we just knew we had to win,” Taccini added. “This has been our goal. This is like, we’ve come for this. We’ve come for the Final Four trophy. We’re here.”
The motto all year for Franklin has been “new team, same mission.”
A third trip back to the Final Four, after earning the program’s first in 2021, is a bit emotional for Hess — knowing the culture Franklin has built.
“These guys just believed from the very beginning,” she said. “I’m very blessed with players that just love this sport. They just come out every single day and they work hard. It’s just amazing to see every single year. … We’re starting to have that in the expectation every single year, is to get back here. And they buy into it.”
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