It’s been a week of extremes for Panther men’s soccer.
After opening the year with two very different nonconference games, routing Highlands by nine goals and falling to Hendersonville by two, on the second week of the season Franklin faced another mixed bag. In a 7-3 loss to Asheville and a 3-0 win over Blue Ridge Early College, the Panthers continued to prepare for the heart of their campaign.
On Monday, Aug. 19, Franklin welcomed Asheville to the Panther Pit for a match with the talented Cougars. Both sides looked evenly matched in the early goings, trading several chances apiece but failing to get on the board.
Asheville finally broke through 15 minutes in, building a quality attack up the left side for a 1-0 lead. Franklin equalized two minutes later, when junior Greg Karcher found the lower left corner of the net from 18 yards, assisted by senior Josiah Mascorro.
Both teams remained tied for another 15 minutes, until Asheville scored twice in the final eight minutes of the half. Officials awarded the Cougars a penalty kick in the waning moments, which they converted to take a commanding 4-1 lead into the break.
Asheville kept their foot on the gas to start the second half, scoring twice in the first four minutes to extend their lead to 6-1.
Karcher answered once again just 30 seconds later, receiving a well-placed through pass behind the defense from sophomore Kevin Torres and finding the top right corner of the net. Karcher paid Mascorro and Torres’s assists forward five minutes later, finding a streaking Jason Patino with a well-placed lob for a point-blank finish.
Down 6-3, Franklin kept threatening Asheville for the next several minutes, getting an excellent breakaway save from sophomore goalkeeper Ken Modlin and a near-miss from Mascorro to the lower right corner of the net. Asheville scored again with 19 minutes to play however, and maintained their 7-3 lead to the final whistle.
“I told them we’ve got to trust the process. Every year I line up some really good teams that we know we’re gonna face, and that’s a great thing because it’s just gonna improve us,” said Panther head coach Matt Kolodzik of the difficult matchups with Asheville and Henderson. “I call it ‘The Gauntlet’ in the beginning of the season – these nonconference teams that are excellent – knowing that we’re prepping for getting into conference. Hopefully we’re hitting our stride at that point and we’re able to fix some things, maybe solidify some positions and figure out a little more of what we’ve got depth-wise.”
Two nights later Franklin returned to the Panther Pit to take on Blue Ridge Early College. There senior Graham Caldwell sparked an early chance for Franklin, finding Mascorro with a beautiful lob pass to the right sideline. Mascorro found Karcher with a cross into BREC’s 18-yard box, and Karcher scored with a well-placed header just five minutes in. Despite several other chances throughout the half, Franklin couldn’t tack onto their lead and entered halftime up 1-0.
Mascorro slipped past BREC defenders once again in the 55th minute, sending another well-placed cross to Karcher just feet from goal. BREC’s goalkeeper did well to save Karcher’s initial shot, but the deflection fell to the feet of Torres for an easy finish.
With 13 minutes to play defender Cameron Lyons pressed into BREC’s half, finding Karcher with a well-placed lob pass behind the defense. While BREC’s keeper once again saved his initial attempt, this time the rebound fell back to Karcher for another easy finish. Franklin defended their 3-0 lead to the final whistle, which seemed to belie the extent to which they dominated the match.
“Thirty-two shots, 19 on goal and you only get three goals; the percentages should definitely be much higher on that,” said Kolodzik. “It’s not for a lack of effort – sometimes you just have matches like that. But I told them, ‘Listen, the biggest thing is you get the win,’ and I told them going into this match that we’ve had three matches so far and we’ve given up some goals. … The goal I had for this was minimally a clean sheet, and we got that. A win’s a win, and you walk away and add one in the ‘Win’ column.”
In his six years as Panther head coach, Kolodzik has scheduled early-season games that run the gamut of WNC opponents. With 3A State Semifinalists Enka visiting the Panther Pit Aug. 26, Franklin’s manager said he’s been pleased with his team’s efforts.
“We are doing well possessing the ball,” he said. “We are sometimes getting ourselves in trouble just holding it a little too long at times. We still did a little bit of that today, but when we’re moving that ball – we call it two-touch soccer – we are most definitely a team to be reckoned with, I have no doubt. We’ve got some pieces coming back next week, hopefully, after some injuries to some of our starters, so that’ll help a little bit to. But I think we’ve got some guys who are starting to step up a little bit and find their role, and they’re pushing very well in practice. The energy and the effort are there, so I’m very happy seeing what they’re doing at this point.”