FRANKLIN – The Franklin women's soccer team brought the regular season to close on Wednesday (Oct. 25) night, hosting the Transylvania Pioneers.
 
The Grizzlies (4-8-6, 3-4-2 HCAC) gave the Pioneers (12-4-1, 7-2 HCAC) everything they could handle, but a game of inches went Transylvania's way with the road side taking a 1-0 win.
 
How it Happened
Both defenses controlled the play in the opening 60 minutes, with just two shots finding their way on target through the first 2/3 of the game. The ice-breaker came in the 66^th minute when a loose ball in the Franklin goal mouth was pounced on and tipped home by Maddi Benjamin.
 
Franklin had two golden chances in the second half, the first coming when a Lauren Barker header in close just missed finding the left corner of the net. In the 80th minute, Maddie Alexander drew a penalty shot, but Jada Tooley's strike was swatted out of the top corner by the Pioneer goalkeeper.
 
Shot attempts on the night were 10-4 in the Pioneers' favor, with Makenna Mundy stopping four shots on target faced.
 
The two teams will meet in the opening round of the 2023 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) tournament, which is set for Saturday (Oct. 28) with a start time to be determined in the coming days.