Over the past few weeks, the refrain has been a familiar one for Franklin women's soccer — win the games you're supposed to win, and you'll get where you want to get.
On Wednesday night, the Grizzlies took another step in the right direction.
Though the second half might have been a little more dramatic than coach
Jennifer Jackson would have liked, the home side did enough to come away with a 2-1 victory over Manchester, inching closer to an HCAC Tournament berth.
Now sixth in the conference standings, Franklin (5-9-1, 3-4 HCAC) can lock up a postseason spot with a victory at Berea on Saturday afternoon.
The Grizzlies appeared in command for much of the match, finishing with a whopping 27-4 advantage in total shots, but the Spartans still made them sweat it out.
"Those are the ones that can be the scariest, when you feel like you're in control but you're playing against a team that's a really great counterattacking team," Jackson said. "But the girls stuck through it, and we definitely needed the result."
Franklin was on the offensive early, getting a pair of corner kicks in the first three minutes, and got on the board first when freshman
Brooke Barnum ran onto a through ball from classmate
Kylie Montgomery and deposited it into the back of the net just over 13 minutes into the action. The score held there for the rest of the half despite the Grizzlies putting five more shots on target.
Freshman
Payton Buckler gave the Grizzlies a 2-0 cushion in the 52nd minute, but just over a minute later the Spartans followed a
Lauren Barker shot with a counterstrike that chopped the margin in half with a little under 27 minutes remaining.
The Grizzlies continued to put pressure on, collecting five more shots on goal — including a rocket from
Issy Pridemore that Manchester goalkeeper Reagan Claus (10 saves) pushed just over the crossbar — but were unable to pad the lead. The Spartans nearly made that regrettable, putting a long shot from the left side off the crossbar with just under 30 seconds left, but Franklin was able to hold on.
Jackson hopes to see improved shot selection from her team this weekend — "we want the quality along with the quantity," she said — with a chance to extend the season coming up.
"We've been talking about this for a while now," the coach added, "that the pressure's on, and pressure is a privilege. It's a privilege to be in this position that we're in to have the chance, because there are several teams that don't."
Game time against the Mountaineers is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
