By Julie Fortin

Class of 2010

Before playing each game, the Porkers reflect on their upcoming challenge, encourage each other, and intimidate the other team with their fight song.  The girls sing the song at the conclusion of their pre-game huddle after warm-ups and the captain’s  speeches.  The Porkers sing out, “Oh when the Porkers take the field, the Porkers take the field, I’d hate to be from (insert opponent’s town here) when the Porkers take the field,” followed by rallying cheers and screams.  In two consecutive rival showdowns, the Porkers sang with more purpose than maybe ever before as they prepared to take the field against Weston and Wellesley. Weston, being the team that knocked the Porkers out of their postseason run last year, and Wellesley, a longtime rival, brought out the need for extra fire in their pregame incantations, as they warned their rivals to be afraid “once the Porkers take the field”.

Before the Weston game, the girls plastered signs around the school to motivate their teammates – including photocopies of the September issue of “Rise” magazine, featuring a member from the opponent’s team, Maria Posa.  With emotions still running rampant from last year’s disapProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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intment, the girls made it obvious that they were plotting their revenge.

Coach Marianne Murphy also stressed the need to be mentally prepared for their upcoming challenge.  Before the Weston game, Coach Murphy told her team that she “still [had] a bad taste in [her] mouth from last year.”

The first half against Weston proved uneventful – neither of the teams were able to score despite many opportunities with corners.  In total, senior captain Amanda Waldron had a total of nine corner shots; Weston, six.  Goalie, senior Hannah Rockwood, had a perfect game, saving about 4 goal attempts in the second half alone, one edging extremely close to entering through the left side.  In addition to Rockwood playing a perfect game, Waldron said, “Everyone worked really hard to stop any shots and clear the ball from the circle.”

For the remainder of the game, the two teams could not break away in order to seal the victory.Without being able to finish in the circle, the ended the game in a rare 0-0 tie – a result which for some players is worse than a loss.  However, with the two teams most likely meeting later in the season, the Porkers will continue to thirst for vengeance.

On the other hand, the Porkers dominated their game with Wellesley.  Within the first 8 minutes of the game, junior Caroline Malone scored a goal against the Wellesley goalie, and then senior Stephanie Frye scored with 20:58 left.  The opposing team made many attempts to keep the ball down in the Walpole side of the field, but with the help of Rockwood and the Porker defense, Wellesley’s attempts to get closer to the goal were made impossible.

The second half of the game was a continuation of the Porker’s control of the game, as Walpole continued to rule the field.  For the second time in the game, Frye scored what would be the third and final goal.  The Raiders had an opportunity to score a goal in the final 5 minutes; however – by the defeated look of the players and coach on the sideline – they had little chance of prevailing.  The Porkers defense remained tenacious and ensured their shutout of Wellesley.

As the animosity in the Porkers grew with their tie (in their minds – resulting in an imperfect season), the team compensated with a domination of Wellesley, scoring three goals to their zero.  However, with Walpole fated to meet Weston later in the season, the Porkers will undoubtedly make sure that the Wildcats ‘hate to be from Weston’ once they step onto the Championship game field.