WELLESLEY — If there were any nerves prior to taking his pressure-packed penalty kick against No. 11 Wellesley, Franklin’s Zach O’Mahony O’Sullivan didn’t show it.
Instead, the junior defender had a grin on his face.
O’Mahony O’Sullivan confidently stepped up and perfectly placed his left-footed shot into the side of the net, which ended the shootout and delivered the No. 22 Panthers a 3-2 upset victory over the Raiders in a Division 1 first-round matchup on Wednesday.
“I’ve been doing the same thing for years. I step back, I know I’m going to make it,” O’Mahony O’Sullivan said as Franklin advances to face No. 6 Framingham. “I was looking at the keeper, I was smiling at the keeper. I knew I was going to make it.”
Franklin (10-5-4) was a perfect 4-for-4 on penalty kicks — Andre Missagia, Luke Follen and Jason Proenca also scored on their attempts — but it was senior goalie Casey Flynn who really set the tone in the shootout.
After coming up with a couple of clutch saves in overtime, Flynn stopped the first penalty kick with a dive and saw the second attempt from Wellesley (9-5-3) harmlessly clang off the post.
“It was pretty big,” Flynn said of his save in the shootout. “My heart was pounding a bit before. But I got calm. Going up by one, I get that cushion, it’s really nice.”
The Panthers also fought off an early deficit as Enzo Desviat Ruiz headed in a corner in the sixth minute. Franklin answered a minute later when a throw-in from Josh Rappa deflected to the back post for Proenca to tap in.
The Panthers jumped in front in the 12th minute when Aidan Arujuo blasted home a failed clearance, but that advantage didn’t stand with Brayden Boecher netting the equalizer for the Raiders early in the second half.
Wellesley carried play over the final 40 minutes of regulation and overtime, but the Panthers, who reached the state quarterfinals last season as a No. 22 seed, held on just long enough to keep their chance at another underdog run alive.
“We just believe in ourselves and we really embrace the idea of being a team,” Franklin head coach Nick Goldman said. “It’s just a collective group moving in the same direction, working their butts off for one another and it seems to work out in the playoffs.”
