Panther girls soccer is near the end of their best season in years.
On the week of April 27, they played three of their last five games, including Mountain Eight clashes with Tuscola and North Henderson. In avenging a prior loss to North and routing the Asheville Independent School, they secured their best regular-season record in a decade.
On April 27, they traveled to Tuscola for a conference game, a rematch of a 2-2 tie at Macon Middle School last month. There Tuscola got on the board first, slipping past Panther defenders and finding the net 10 minutes in.
Bristol Brooks answered from a difficult angle seven minutes later, beating Tuscola’s goalkeeper from 25 yards. With 15 seconds left in the half however, Tuscola won a free kick near the left sideline from 35 yards, and scored on a beautiful shot to the far top corner of the net.
Tuscola doubled their lead 10 minutes after the break, scoring on a running shot from a difficult angle. With 22 minutes to play Franklin won a free kick near midfield, where Lana Walker found Raelyn Greene in the Mountaineers’ box. There Greene scored on a beautiful running volley, but Tuscola maintained their 3-2 lead to the final whistle.
Two nights later Franklin returned to Macon Middle School for a rematch of their 4-1 conference loss at North last month. There Brooks drew a foul in the Knights’ box 25 minutes in, where Nevaeh Kimsey buried the penalty kick for an early lead.
North equalized with 10 minutes left in the half, fighting through several defenders and finding the top corner of the net. The Knights scored again just after halftime, slipping past defenders to take a 2-1 lead.
Chelsea Pelletier responded with 15 minutes to play, stealing the ball from North defenders near the Knights’ left corner flag. With a beautiful cross from there she found her twin sister, Kai, who scored on an easy tap-in to equalize.
Less than a minute later Franklin won a throw-in deep in North’s half, where Brooks heaved the ball into the Knights’ 18-yard box. There the ball fell to Chelsea Pelletier in space, who found the left side of the net for the winning goal.
“We came into the week knowing we had to get one or two good results, and tonight was a good win,” said head coach Sam Vargas after the game. “We went up first, they came back with two, then we came back with two on them, and that was a really good feeling. That was cool for the twins; those two girls both work really hard.”
“I’m just really proud of the effort; I can't say enough about this group,” he continued. “They're a young group, too." Franklin’s lineup for the match included two seniors, one junior and the remainder were sophomores.
"That's just huge for us," Vargas said. "We're just looking forward with how we view the program and the trajectory that it’s going.”
The next night they traveled to the Asheville Independent School for a nonconference match with the Blues. There Lilly Tux got Franklin on the board first, corralling a loose ball in the Blues’ box for an early goal.
In the 17th minute Franklin won a corner kick, where Walker found Emily Morgado for a tap-in goal. Goalkeeper Carramia Ramos protected Franklin’s clean sheet minutes later, thwarting a one-on-one chance for the Blues with a fingertip save.
Thirty minutes in Franklin won another corner kick from the right, where Walker found Rylee Greene for another easy tap-in.
Walker earned another assist shortly after the half, firing a long-range shot on a free kick from 30 yards. The Blues’ keeper saved the initial attempt, but deflected the ball to Kimsey for another easy finish.
Minutes later Raelyn Greene took another Panther free kick from the left, and found Tux inside the Blues’ box for another tap-in goal. The Blues scored on a penalty kick with 25 minutes to play, but Franklin maintained their 5-1 lead to the final whistle.
The wins improved Franklin’s record to 10-5-2 overall and 6-5-1 in the Mountain Eight, where they ended the week in fourth place. As the #20 team in the state’s 5A classification, Franklin ranked squarely inside its 48-team playoff field with just two games left to play this regular season, including conference clashes at Smoky Mountain May 4 and at home versus West Henderson May 6.
Sports Editor Will Woolever can be reached at sports@thefranklinpress.com