A strong season for Panther women’s soccer is at an end.
After earning one of the last state playoff berths in the 3A West, on May 13 Franklin traveled to North Davidson for Round 1. While they fell to the talented Black Knights, Sam Vargas’s team capped the program’s most successful season in years.
By way of a 17-2 record in the regular season, the Mid-Piedmont Conference Champion Black Knights were a worthy opponent, entering the playoffs with the 3A West’s #2 seed. With a record of 7-9-1, Franklin ended their season unsure of whether they’d advance, finally earning the #31 seed in the tournament bracket May 10.
The Black Knights lived up to their billing in Lexington, defeating the Panthers 9-0 to advance to Round 2. Despite the result, the match ended a promising season for Franklin in Vargas’s first year at the helm, including a third-place finish in a difficult Mountain Seven Conference. With an M7 record of 6-5-1, the Panthers earned their best conference finish since placing third in the old Mountain Six in 2018.
“It’s been a really good turnaround from last season. We knew we wanted to improve in every category – shots, goals against, goals scored, wins and losses – and we did,” said Vargas after Franklin’s regular-season finale versus West Henderson May 6. “In the past we averaged getting scored on anywhere from 70 to 80 times. This year I’d have to go look at the final, but we’ve only let in about 45, so that’s a really good turnaround.”
Led by a hard-nosed defense and an opportunistic midfield, Franklin allowed just 43 goals this regular season, with 24 of those coming versus regional juggernauts in West and Rabun Gap. With just three seniors set to graduate next week, Vargas said the arrow is pointing upwards program-wide.
“I told them that if you look around, we had a really young team, so we can’t complain,” he said. “I know it’s tough, I know it’s hard to lose 9-0, but given what we had and what we worked with, it’s not a terrible result. So, we’ll try and keep our focus forward.”