Will Woolever
sports@thefranklinress.com
After watching their last two games get cancelled due to weather or COVID-19, on Feb. 11 Franklin’s men’s soccer travelled to Brevard for its first match in more than two weeks. In a barnstorming game against the overmatched Blue Devils, Franklin moved to 2-0 on the season with a resounding win.
The match began quietly, as both sides fought for possession in the first several minutes. Suddenly, the ball got stuck in a scrum as both sides fought for possession in a phenomenon head coach Matt Kolodzik referred to after the game as ‘Ping-Pong’. Eventually, a Panther emerged with the ball, which found junior Bryan Rodriguez a few touches later for a beautiful finish to put Franklin up 1-0.
The goal opened the floodgates for Franklin, as after the reset the Panthers picked Brevard’s pockets and found junior striker Luis Torres in the middle of the Blue Devils’ half. Sensing the Brevard keeper off his line, Torres unfurled a beautiful strike from long range to give Franklin a 2-0 advantage just 40 seconds after Rodriguez’s goal.
Just five minutes later, the Panthers struck again when freshman Jacob Martinez sent a cross into the box that found Torres for the 3-0 lead. Not to be outdone, the Panthers tacked another goal on before halftime when Brevard committed a handball in the box, giving junior Pablo Montelongo a penalty kick and his team a 4-0 lead.
After halftime the Panthers pressed their advantage when sophomore Isaiah Roots received the ball in the air off a set piece from the corner. Roots sent a header goalward that ricocheted off the crossbar, but followed his own miss for a heads-up finish.
The Panthers added an exclamation point minutes later when Torres broke away from the right side of the Blue Devils’ line and buried another nice finish inside the far post. Franklin would go on to win 6-1 behind Torres’s hat trick.
After the resounding win, Franklin prepared for the meat of their schedule, a stretch of five games in ten days starting with Mountain Six power East Henderson Feb. 15