FRAMINGHAM – Just a week ago, Medfield girls hockey freshman Annie Flippo was finally cleared to play after suffering a broken arm earlier in the year.
Suffice to say, she was ready to contribute in a historic way in her first game back.
With the go-ahead goal early in the third period and an assist on another just six minutes later, Flippo capped off a sensational outing from goalie Kamryn Perachi (28 saves) to lead the 13th-seeded Warriors (15-7-2) to a 2-0 upset win over No. 1 Westwood in a Div. 2 state semifinal Saturday night at Loring Arena.
Twice Medfield couldn’t top the Wolverines (21-2-1) in the regular season. Not once did Westwood score less than two goals in a game all year.
And yet, the Warriors head to TD Garden for the first time in program history, becoming the lowest seed since Woburn in 2010 (No. 22) to reach a girls hockey state final.
“I definitely wanted to do something like that when I came back, I was thinking I need to do this,” Flippo said. “But I never really thought of it becoming true. … It’s just amazing being able to come back and win against a team that we haven’t won against before.”
“We played these guys the third time this year, it’s all on the back burner,” added head coach John Summers. “The one thing about my girls – they’re just resilient. We know Westwood, Westwood knows us. We play at the same rink, we practice at the same rink. … Two weeks ago we were on a (2-5) slide, we just got that click and just kept on rolling.”
Perachi has been the team’s MVP of the turnaround, allowing just three goals in three tournament games entering the TVL rematch. And after Medfield allowed a combined 11 goals in the first two matchups, she knew how critical her performance would be.
Westwood’s potent attack brought the heat in a dominant first period (10 shots) and more in the third (12 shots). But Perachi was unbeatable, and the defense quickly cleared an abundance of loose pucks fed to the slot.
“It’s so nice to finally get a win against Westwood,” she said. “I don’t think any other goalie has shut them out this year, so it’s honestly just crazy. … If I let in any goals, it wouldn’t go our way we wanted it to go. Especially after the second period, I (thought) next goal wins it.”
Medfield has made a habit of slow first periods all year, so Summers and his assistants emphasized withstanding the first five minutes until the Warriors found their footing.
They did just that before slowing Westwood down in a scoreless second period, and jumped ahead right away in the third.
Flippo stuffed in a rebound just 50 seconds in for the 1-0 lead. Then, with 8:09 left, she drew the defense along the right wall before perfectly finding Brooke Reilly in front to double the advantage.
“I just really wanted to make sure I was being completely aggressive in front of the net,” Flippo said. “Just really using my aggressiveness to my advantage, and I think that really helped me out front of the net for my goal.”