For much of Wednesday night's match against visiting Earlham, Franklin men's soccer felt like a team in control.
A second-half red card disrupted that control somewhat, however, allowing the Quakers to salvage a 1-1 draw at Faught Stadium.
"We've got to figure out how to keep 11 players on the field," Griz coach
Josh Hughes said. "It's killing us. It's the fourth time we've gone down to 10 (players), and probably the second or third time we've gone down to 10 when we were the ascending team."
Franklin (2-12-1, 1-5-1 HCAC) had the upper hand for most of the first half, outshooting the Quakers by an 8-3 margin and putting three shots on goal. Russ Bilohlavek had an early breakaway attempt that sailed just off target, and
Theo Sasso had a couple of opportunities in the opening minutes as well.
Finally, early in the 22nd minute, Sasso let a hard shot rip from up top about 30 yards out, beating Earlham keeper Ryland Wamsley to the right side of the net.
That lead held up through the intermission and into the second half before a momentum-changing call in the 60th minute, when Griz center back
Lucas Pereira was given a yellow card for what the official deemed a head-butt of a Quaker player. Earlham made use of the man advantage, netting the equalizer with 15:51 left to play in the match.
The Grizzlies had some chances to pull back in front, including a golden one on a penalty kick with 10:04 on the clock, but Bilohlavek's low shot was saved by Wamsley and neither team was able to break the deadlock down the stretch.
Though his squad came away with just one point instead of the desired three, Hughes was pleased with his team's play overall — especially compared with what he was seeing a month or two ago.
"We could honestly say to ourselves we deserved to win the game, even being down to 10," Hughes said. "I think the best thing for me is from day one to now, how much better we've gotten. It's huge steps forward from where we started to where we are now."
Franklin will play its final home match Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.) against Berea.
