Griffin, Porkers roll on senior night

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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor

The Walpole High School varsity field hockey team is in the midst of yet another dominant season, as the Porkers entered Thursday’s senior night contest and regular season finale with Milton still unbeaten in conference play.

Behind a first half hat trick by senior Nikki Griffin, the Porkers (17-1, 13-0) cruised to a 10-0 victory to head into the postseason winners of five straight.

Griffin got the Porkers on the board less than 10 minutes in when the senior took a pass from junior Sydney Scales on a fast break and buried a shot down low to give Walpole a 1-0 lead with 26:19 to play in the first half. Just over five minutes later with 21:12 remaining, Griffin struck again, this time thanks to a feed from fellow senior Audra Tosone, to double Walpole’s lead to 2-0.

Emery Murphy made it a 3-0 game with 15:37 to play in the half when the senior tipped home a long flip shot by Caileen Quinn. The Porkers pushed the lead to 4-0 when Scales smacked home the rebound of a shot by Quinn with 11:50 left before Griffin completed the hat trick less than a minute later after receiving a pass from Scales and burying a shot five-hole to make it 5-0 with 10:54 to play.

Lila MacKinnon made it a 6-0 game when the junior shot home a rebound with 8:58 to play in the half and the Porkers took their six-goal edge into halftime. Walpole went on to add four more in the second half and prevailed by the 10-0 final.

Following Thursday night’s dominant win, the Porkers were awarded the No. 1 overall seed in Division I South and will face the winner of No. 16 Mansfield and No. 17 Scituate on November 3 in the first round. A win would set the Porkers up with a date with either Needham or Westwood in the quarterfinals.

For funny and incisive sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter at @fLAno0.