FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Franklin College men's soccer team had the chance to lock up a post-season home game on Wednesday (Oct. 27) night when they hosted the Transylvania Pioneers in the final match of the regular season.

For the first time in program history, there will be playoff soccer at Faught Stadium after the Grizzlies (7-8-1, 5-3-1 HCAC) turned in a gritty performance to shut out the Pioneers (5-8-2, 3-5-1 HCAC) 2-0. The Grizzlies got two second half goals from freshman Van Lian, earning the program's second ever win over the Pioneers and knocking Transy out of post-season contention.

How it Happened
Both teams wasted no time getting at each other and the result was a physical opening half. Shot attempts were 8-2 in the Pioneers' favor through 45 minutes, but the two teams headed into halftime locked in a scoreless draw.

The game remained scoreless until the 74^th minute, when a pair of pin-point passes led to the game-winner. Jair Moreno found Jon Moore on the wing and Moore lofted a ball into the box where Lian bounced a header off the ground and into the cage for the ice-breaker.

Less than five minutes later, Lian took advantage of a misplayed ball by Transy goalkeeper Cade Terry and sent a shot off the crossbar into the net for his first career multi-goal game.

Inside the Box Score
-Wednesday night's win marked the fourth in a row for the Grizzlies, setting the longest winning streak for the program under head coach Cody Graman.
-Shots for the night were 16-5 in Transy's favor and 5-2 in shots on target. Elliott Clark was perfect in goal, stopping all five attempts for his third solo clean sheet of the year.
-Lian has three goals over his last two games, scoring the game-winner in each of the last two contests to lead the team in that category.
-Moore's assist was the first of his career, giving his a team-high 21 points through the end of the regular season. Moore remains tied for the program lead for most goals in a single season with 10.
-Moreno now has assists in back-to-back games, giving him points in consecutive contests for the first time in his career.
-Wednesday night's win gives the Grizzlies five HCAC wins for the first time since their last post-season appearance back in 2014. 

Up Next
Franklin will host Defiance in the opening round of the conference tournament on Saturday (Oct. 30) afternoon. Kick-off time will be announced in the coming days.