No grounding Flyers
LONGMEADOW -- It was a battle of undefeated powers and the play was a reflection of that. But after the final seconds ticked off yesterday, it was Framingham that victoriously charged the field following an 8-7 win over Longmeadow in the MIAA Division 1 state championship game.
This was the second year in a row the teams met in the state final, and the Flyers won the 2006 encounter by a goal as well. With consecutive perfect seasons, Framingham has won 50 straight.
"I can't believe it, it all happened so fast. It's hard to believe that it's over," said Flyers senior Kristin Igoe, who netted two goals. "We had the experience, that's why we schedule hard teams during the season so we know what it feels like when we go down . . . we knew what we were going to do and we never gave up."
Framingham (25-0) trailed early. Longmeadow's Kristin Joyce and Katie Phillips both scored on 8-meter shots, and Meaghan O'Leary (two goals) made it 3-0 with 16:54 remaining in the half.
The Flyers got on the board almost three minutes later as Samantha Zetlin put one past Lancers goalkeeper Mollie Mackler, but Longmeadow (22-1) answered quickly thanks to senior Lizzie Lee, who set up classmate Anne Neil to make it 4-1.
Before the end of the half however, Framingham scored on back-to-back 8-meter shots by Melanie Baskind (two goals) and Devin O'Leary to cut the deficit to 4-3.
"What I said to my players is even though we won last year, it isn't good enough. We just can't say that, 'Well you know, that's great, we tried, we came in second today.' It wasn't really going to be an option for us today," said Framingham coach Stacey Freda. "From start to finish, the kids certainly put on every single effort possible."
At 21:39, Igoe did what she does best, scoring the tying goal. A little more than a minute later, Baskind found Moira Barry at the goal, and the Flyers had their first lead of the day.
But Longmeadow didn't go down quietly, and nearly sent the match into overtime as Meagan Dobson was rewarded an 8-meter shot against Flyers goalkeeper Lisa Lach with 13 seconds remaining. But Dobson's shot missed left of the net.
"I knew that [Longmeadow] had a lot of potential as a team so I just kept telling myself I could do it," said Lach.
"We ran into a team today that probably ran on all cylinders," said Lancers coach Steven Dudeck. "They were well known throughout the season as one of the best teams in the state and they have a great coach."
