It was a tough start to the season for Panther men’s soccer.
After months of offseason work, on Monday, Aug. 14, Franklin finally kicked off their fall campaign, traveling to Enka on the first official day of the N.C. High School Athletic Association season. Despite a strong start to the match against the Jets, Matt Kolodzik’s team ultimately fell 5-1.
“That game was just a tale of two halves,” said Kolodzik of the season opener. “The first half, we went down 1-0 on a penalty kick, and then we were pressing them pretty high. Their goalkeeper wasn’t the best with his feet; he kind of flubbed a kick and Miguel Cruz actually came in and chased it down and finished it off with a shot. It was a nice finish there, so I was pretty happy with the first half [tied] 1-1.”
One of several attackers looking to replace Noel Rivera-Villa, who graduated this summer as Franklin’s first-ever All-State player, Cruz made the most of his opportunity off the bad goal kick. After ending the half in a deadlock however, The Panthers couldn’t keep pace in the second.
“About four or five minutes into the second half, we kind of cleared out and weren’t as physical as we needed to be,” said Kolodzik. “They got the ball and had a clean shot on their left, our right side of the goal, and it bounced off the back post and [landed] in the back corner. What happened at that point – and you can chalk it up to a lot of different things – you could see the energy of the team just kind of sunk. Part of that is, we’ve got some guys that are fairly young playing up there right now, and we’re settling in on some different positions and switching some things around.”
After losing four All-Mountain Seven Conference seniors over the summer, this year’s team is still ironing out some early-season kinks. Despite several young Panthers on the pitch for Franklin this fall, Kolodzik expressed confidence that his players will put things together.
“I really feel like we’re gonna be just fine,” said Franklin’s manager. “We’re working through some positional changes, putting some people in the right place, and it’s early on. I had to remind the guys that last year we played Rabun Gap and Watauga and started 1-2. Enka is a quality team … I told the guys it was definitely not the end of the world, so how you respond to it – and they typically do respond – is gonna show a lot.”