When opportunity knocks in soccer, a team needs to answer. The Principia men did so during Saturday's match, and Franklin wound up on the losing end as a result.
The host Panthers scored a pair of first-half goals and held off the Grizzlies for a 2-1 victory.
"Similar story," Franklin coach
Josh Hughes said. "We gave away two silly, preventable goals in the first half. Battled hard in the second half and probably deserved more out of the game, but they finished their two chances and we didn't."
Principia got on the board first with an Effenberg Joya goal 20:40 into the match, then doubled its lead with a penalty kick tally just over six minutes later.
Theo Sasso cut the deficit in half when he bagged his first goal of the season in the 51st minute, and the Grizzlies had two more shots on frame in the second half, including one by
Kalao Ebalo with just 3:23 to go in the match, but they couldn't net the equalizer.
Franklin had a 6-5 edge in shots on goal and had 14 shots in all. Goalkeeper
Jaime Silva made five saves in a losing effort.
The Grizzlies (1-7) will return to action next Saturday (Sept. 27) with their HCAC opener at Hanover.
