Panther girls soccer has turned in their best start to a season in years.
On the first week of March they played their first official games, including nonconference fixtures with Swain and Rabun County. With multi-goal wins they kicked off their regular season with a full head of steam.
On March 2, they traveled to Bryson City for their season opener, facing the Maroon Devils on Boyce Dietz Field. There Lana Walker harassed Swain early on, sending a cross toward the Devil goal just six minutes in. From there Alivia Clouse laid the ball back off for Walker, who lofted a beautiful shot over the Swain goalkeeper’s head.
Just eight minutes later Franklin won a throw-in deep in Swain’s half, where Bristol Brooks heaved the ball into the Devils’ 18-yard box. There it found Neveah Kimsey running to the right, who snuck a gorgeous shot back across the goal inside the left post.
Just two minutes later Swain committed a handball in their own box, giving Franklin a penalty kick from 12 yards out. There Sadie Green beat the Devil keeper once again, putting her team up by three just 16 minutes in. They protected their lead through the last 64 minutes for the win.
The next night the Panthers returned to Macon Middle School for a match with interstate rivals Rabun County, Georgia. There Franklin controlled possession early on, until Walker corralled a loose ball deep in Rabun’s half 19 minutes in. From there she sent a well-placed cross into Rabun’s box, where it found Brooks behind Wildcat defenders for a tap-in goal. Franklin protected their one-goal lead until the half.
Jessica Hernandez came out firing after the break, bouncing a shot off Rabun’s right post just 30 seconds in. Five minutes later Franklin won a throw deep inside Rabun’s half, where Walker found Clouse near the right corner of the Wildcat box. Once again Clouse laid the ball back off for Walker, who beat the Wildcat keeper with a long-range shot from 30 yards. Franklin added several more near-misses through the last half-hour, but maintained their 2-0 lead to the final whistle.
In winning their first two games, the Panthers earned their best start to a season since 2020. After Franklin started 3-0 that year, the rest of the spring sports season was cancelled statewide due to COVID-19. They then went winless in 2021, and haven’t had a winning season since.
“[We’ve had] two shutouts, so it’s good for the girls. [We’ve had] very minimal pressure in the back.” said head coach Sam Vargas. “We’ve got a new identity on the team this year trying to really make strides forward, and we have more offensive pressure, which is good – we’re not used to that. So, it’s just kind of figuring out who works best in which spots, and what’s gelling at the right time.”
Since taking over a three-win team in 2023, Vargas has slowly remade the squad in his own image, doubling that total in each of the last two years. In his third year at the helm with underclassmen across the pitch, he hopes to help usher in a new era.
“We’ve had a lot of young players starting,” he said. “We had Lana Walker – she’s a freshman starting in the middle for us – we had Lily Tux up top, we had Alivia Clouse on the left, we had Olivia Ramirez in the back. All of those are sophomores, so we’ve got a good mix of kids. They’re really trying to make the right decisions.”