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KINGSTON — Something changed for the Northwest Rangers at halftime.
Nothing was really different about their final finish, though.
Sydney Franchella scored two goals in the second half, Megan Harry had a goal an assist and Northwest rallied back from a rare halftime deficit Monday to win its second straight Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 championship with a 3-1 victory over Lackawanna Trail in a playoff for the league title at Wyoming Seminary’s Klassner Field.
“It means everything,” Franchella said. “We just wanted to come out, play a clean game and hope to win the division championship once again.
“We did it!”
The victory was especially meaningful to Franchella, Harry, Ariana Walker and the rest of Northwest’s senior class, who now go out with back-to-back league titles under their belts.
“It is perfect that we have done it in our senior year,” Harry said. “I mean, it was good we won it last year, but we have so many seniors this year. We all grew up together.
“It’s absolutely everything.”
Everything seemed to be spinning the wrong way for Northwest in the first half.
The Rangers wasted an array of penalty corner opportunities, and fell behind when Paige Hyde popped in a goal midway through the half.
It made the Rangers fret a little, especially against a Trail team that tied them for first place in Division 2 at 13-2 by beating Nanticoke Area in a makeup game Saturday to force Monday’s playoff for the league title.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Harry said, admitting there was some nervousness among the Rangers when they went down by a goal. “But we’ve been down and been in bad situations before.”
Franchella helped Northwest wriggle out of this one.
She took a crisp crossing pass from Walker less than five minutes into the second half and popped the tying goal up in the air and into the upper left corner of the cage while giving the Rangers a surge of momentum.
“My teammate Ariana must have just hit it perfectly,” said Franchella, whose two goals brought her career total and school record to 98 — just two away from her target of hitting 100. “It just bounced right off my stick.”
Pretty soon, Franchella had the whole Northwest team bouncing with glee.
Off a penalty corner, she took a picture-perfect feed from Harry and deposited as rocket into the back of the cage with 14:09 remaining, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead and opening the door for a league championship celebration.
“That’s one of our strong corners, one we love doing,” Franchella said. “It was an awesome, smooth overall pass.
“Just hearing it hit the backboard was an amazing sound.”
Harry added an insurance goal just 2:14 after Franchella put Northwest into the lead, polishing off a big finish for the Rangers.
“I think being able to calm down for a little and see the game and talk to coach about it really calmed us down,” Harry said of the team’s mindset coming out of the halftime break.
“Then we just got fired up.”
Now, they get to do it again today.
The same two teams will meet in a 6 p.m. District 2 Class A quarterfinal, this time at Northwest’s Lewis and Miller Stadium with more on the line. Northwest captured the No. 4 seed in the eight-team bracket and Lackawanna Trail is No. 5, with the winner headed back to Wyoming Seminary’s Klassner Field for a District 2 semifinal game Thursday.
“I like it,” Northwest coach Ashley Lawson said. “We like playing each other. They are a very good team with a great coach (Gary Wilmet). It’s always a great game between us.”
Knowing that, the Rangers certainly didn’t scale back on anything Monday in preparation for playing the same team on two consecutive days.
“I wouldn’t say we held anything back,” Franchella said. “We just wanted to come out (Monday) and win the division. And come back (today) and get another win.”
WVC Division 2 Championship
Northwest 3, Lackawnna Trail 1
Lackawanna Trail`1`0 — 1
Northwest`0`3 — 3
First half — 1. LT, Paige Hyde (Dariane Jones), 15:39. Second half — 2. NW, Sydney Franchella (Ariana Walker), 26:50; 3. NW, Franchella (Megan Harry), 14:09; 4. NW, Harry (Morgan Gregory), 11:56.
Shots — NW 14; LT 3. Saves — NW 2 (Cassidy Gray); LT 11 (Lilly Rejrat). Corners — LT 2; NW 20.
