Halfway through the season, Panther women’s soccer is on solid ground.
Now in its second year under head varsity coach Sam Vargas, the program’s efforts are beginning to bear fruit, with young varsity and JV teams improving steadily. Ahead of Spring Break week both squads were hard at work, with roughly a month remaining this regular season.
JV
Seven matches in, Juan Morales’s team remains unbeaten, with six blowout wins and a tie to their names. With six matches to play, he says he’s unsurprised by their success.
“Ever since preseason, once we saw what we had to choose from for both teams, I knew that whichever players [head coach Sam Vargas] took up to varsity, I was gonna be left with a really good squad,” said the longtime Panther assistant, now in his third year as JV head coach. “I knew I was gonna have a good team, I just didn’t know who was going to be on it to kind of have a plan set up as far as personnel and putting certain people in certain areas of the field. But, once we chose the teams it became clear to me who needed to be where and who complemented whom as far as their play styles. We got a couple of the basketball girls later on because they made it to the playoffs and their season ran a little bit long … so once we got them, it just added onto the team. I was talking to my assistant coaches, and we just looked at each other and said, ‘We have a great team.’”
After tying Enka 0-0 to start the year, the Panthers have been on a tear, scoring 40 goals and allowing just four. Given the team’s roster, their airtight defense is made even more impressive.
“Our biggest weakness is definitely the goalkeeper since we don’t actually have a goalkeeper, so every game we kind of have to ask the girls to volunteer. If not, we pick one,” said Morales. “Our defense is really good so it’s very difficult for them to make it down to our goal, but once they do it’s always a big panicky moment. … Every girl that I put in there, I always ask them, ‘I know you’re not a keeper, but just do your best.’ They’ve always done their best, and up until [the March 28 match versus Madison] we hadn’t been scored on, so it’s been great.”
For the few schools west of Asheville with enough players for two teams, programs generally prioritize varsity squads, leaving JV coaches to make do with what they have. In playing their first six matches without conceding a goal, Morales credited his team for the stellar feat.
“I feel like their strength is just the togetherness that they have,” he said. “They’re a great group of girls that have great attitudes for the most part, and wherever you ask them to play, they go out and they do a great job. … For example, I could put Kai Pelletier as an attacking [midfielder] or a defensive mid, and she always comes back to help on defense. There’s lot of defenders that I’ve put up into the midfield, there’s strikers that I can put out on the wing, and just a bunch of different versatility. That way if somebody gets hurt or tired, we can just rotate the squad and the levels don’t drop.”
Between a lethal offense and a stifling back line, Franklin has defied all expectations this spring. With multiple tough games still to play however, the team’s true litmus test is yet to come.
“I would say the biggest games would probably be West [Henderson], because West is always pretty good,” said Morales. “In years past, every time we’ve played them we’ve for the most part dominated the game, but it just came down to not taking our chances and them taking the chances that they created. I think the biggest thing as far as preparing the girls is just to keep giving them that confidence every day at practice. They’re confident in themselves and the team because of how well they’re doing, so I think they’re up for it.”
Varsity
On Spring Break week Sam Vargas’s squad had just one fixture, a Mountain Seven Conference clash with Smoky Mountain. In a narrow 1-0 loss to the 9-3 Mustangs, Franklin punched above their weight.
Five days after routing North Henderson for their first conference win, the Panthers traveled to Sylva March 31 for a much tougher match. Smoky attacked Franklin’s goal throughout the first half, but were repelled by timely clears from Daisy Altamirano, Sadie Collins and Jessica Hernandez. With nine minutes left Lily Holt led a promising counter, but just missed the top right corner of Smoky’s net.
Still tied at zero, Smoky came out firing in the second half, attacking up the left side and finding the net just one minute in.
Smoky kept their foot on the pedal from there, maintaining possession with tough defense and crisp passing. Despite several tough saves from goalkeeper Carramia Ramos, Franklin couldn’t equalize and ultimately fell 1-0.
The loss dropped Franklin to 2-5-1 overall and 1-3-1 in the Mountain Seven, where they ended the week in fourth place. In falling by just one goal to the 4-1 Mustangs however, the Panthers proved they aren’t far from conference contention.
“We wanted to win this game, but we understand that coming into a game like this is tough – they’re a good team,” said Vargas. “We’ve got to find a way to keep the game simple again when it gets tense ... and move the ball. That’s just a reactionary thing, so we’ve just got to figure that out. The good news is we’ve got another half of the season, so we can hopefully avenge some of these losses and get back into it.”
With a pair of one-goal losses and a tie, Franklin’s conference record has been less than indicative of their play, with several underclassmen playing key roles throughout the year. With the first half of their regular season in the books, the team prepared for a Mountain Seven match at West Henderson April 7.
“We’ll give them two days off here, then we’ll practice Thursday and Friday and be back at it Monday,” said Vargas.