From the Wicked Local Walpole website:


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   Hingham field hockey hoped to get a goal at Turco Field while holding the Walpole High Porkers scoreless for the first 22 minutes of their first-round tourney game at Turco Field Saturday, but it never materialized. Neither did a shot.
   With the stifling Porker defense – led by Liz Malone’s efforts – almost immobilizing the Harbermen the entire game, the Porkers went on to win, 2-0.
   Dennis-Yarmouth fought hard to get a goal in Monday’s second-round game. That, too, failed to happen as the Porkers won, 3-0, despite seven DY shots and went back to doing what they do best – shutting people down.
   The win, which upped the Porker record to 17-2-1, was the fourth straight shutout by the locals, and that included a 2-0 win over Wellesley at the end of the regular season to take first place and a Herget title from the Raiders.
   Now, the Raiders, who scored twice on Walpole the first time they met this year, hope to have better fortune than either non-league foes or themselves at Turco. The next stop for the Porker Express is Wellesley’s Sprague School (Wednesday, after deadline) where they meet Wellesley for the third time this year in the Div. 1 South semifinal.
   However, if the last four games are an indication, getting another goal on Walpole’s defense might be pretty difficult. That’s important, since more teams are playing close-to-the vest defense on higher-scoring teams this year, turning the tourney into a series of overtime shootouts, and the Porkers are still having trouble finishing on offense.
   The biggest challenge in the Hingham game for Walpole, which wasn’t finishing chances early, was just getting the first goal as Harborman senior captain Ali Lund, backboning an excellent defensive effort, made a number of impressive stops in net.
   Walpole finally broke through with 56 seconds left in the first half however, as senior Captain Taylor Silvestro took a rebound off Lund’s pads and put it past her for the 1-0 lead. The rally had begun when junior Shelby Guisti had stolen the ball at midfield and brought it back to the circle for the initial shot.
   Walpole wasted little time getting the insurance though, scoring at 2:12 of the second half. Susan Conroy started the play by inserting a corner from beside the net to senior Captain Emily Painten at the top of the circle. Painten simply ripped a shot directly into the net past Lund’s right side.
   Lund was busy, facing 21 Porker shots, while Walpole goalie Cori Cisternelli made no saves in the shutout. Walpole also outcornered the Harbormen, 10-1.
   “I thought we did well for 75 yards, which means I think we should have scored more,” offered Walpole Coach Marianne Murphy. “We really didn’t make the most of our opportunities. However they had one corner and Cori didn’t see any shots, as the defense was doing what it should be.”
   The victory propelled them into the quarterfinals at Turco Field Monday against Dennis-Yarmouth, which won the battle of the hyphens by beating Dighton-Rehoboth 2-0, in the first round.
   It was the same old story for Porker opponents, though, as the Dolphins were jumping through hoops trying to get past both midfielder Liz Malone and stopper Jordan Dasilva, who was sensational in the recent win over Wellesley.
   The Dolphins did a nice job of frustrating the misfiring Porkers in the beginning, but once the corners starting coming and Walpole was able to establish itself in DY’s end, it seemed it might be a just a matter of time.
   It took almost 10 corners to get the first goal and eventual game-winner, however, as it came with 11:04 left in the first half with the benefit of a corner. Jen Walsh took the corner and inserted it down low to Liz Malone, who crossed a pass to Silvestro for the score as the senior Captain chipped it past Ashley Hallman, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top netminder.
   Less than five minutes later, with 5:31 left in the half, Silvestro helped with the insurance goal as she passed to Steph Frye in front after bringing the ball up and into the circle.
The Porkers took the tenuous 2-0 lead into halftime, after DY survived another Frye goal that was called back.
   The lead became even more tenuous as once again the Porkers started having trouble finishing and Cisternelli was tested. The third score didn’t come until there were only 43 seconds left.
   DY had almost closed the gap to 2-1 early in the second half as the Dolphins got a series of corners in Walpole’s end, but Cisternelli made a couple of key saves and the defense held.
Walpole started reasserting itself, getting more corners, but while they ended up outcornering the Dolphins 17-6, they only had the one goal on them.
   The final goal was a product of Walpole’s sister act as senior Captain Liz Malone, all over the field as usual, ripped a long pass into the circle from midfield and sophomore Caroline finished it off.
   The score was Caroline Malone’s first postseason tally, as was the one scored by Frye.
If the third-seeded Porkers solved post-deadline how to beat the same team three times in a season (Second-seeded Wellesley’s two losses were to Walpole), then they will be in the South final against either top-seeded Somerset or fourth-seeded King Philip. If not, then it will be Wellesley in Taunton this weekend after avenging last year’s tourney loss to Walpole at the same juncture.
 

Read “Porkers drop anchor on Hingham” on the Wicked Local Walpole website