Oliver Ames Girls' Soccer Ends Season With South Sectional Finals Loss to Franklin

Until the very last minute of Sunday's South Sectional Finals game against Franklin, the Oliver Ames girls' soccer team did not quit.

In the end, though, two goals in the final three minutes were not enough to topple No. 1 Franklin. OA ended it's season with a 3-2 loss.

The Tigers struggles started early, and they were unable to generate offense in the first half. Franklin, on the other hand, scored all three of it's goals before the break.

"They showed a lot of heart," OA coach Britt Sellmayer said. "We couldn’t get a ball to bounce our way before the half. We tried to talk about getting a goal before the half and making it a 3-1 game. It didn’t happen, though."

OA's deficit began in the fourth minute. After Franklin's Kriste Kirshe's shot was blocked by OA goalie Nora MacLaine, Bailey Knous scored on the rebound to give her Panthers an early lead.

Just two minutes later, Knous earned an assist on a Taylor Cogliano goal. Franklin scored again in the 13th minute when Knous assisted Alexis Stowell's goal. Before some had even settled in, Franklin already led 3-0.

Oliver Ames stormed back as minutes wound down in the second half.

Senior Corrine Herlihy scored in the 37th minute to put OA on the board. Just 24 seconds later, senior Kendall Andrew found the back of the net on a free kick.

It was fitting that two seniors led the last minute surge. In addition to Herlihy and Andrew, seniors Kelsey Bliss, Lexi Soucie, Clarissa Romero, Allison Brennan, Pam Grant, and Nicole Taylor were part of a group that earned a trip to the South Sectional Finals two years in a row.

"We played hard," Sellmayer said. "I’m still proud of where we are. We won 17 games and came back to the South Sectionals Finals two years in a row. We graduated a lot of great players last year and a lot of players last year that were role players showed up to be great players this year."

Oliver Ames and it's eight seniors ended the season with a 17-4-1 overall record.

"It’s a great group of girls who accomplished a lot of great things in the four years they’ve been here," Sellmayer said.