What a difference 12 months has made.
In last year's season opener, Franklin men's soccer was outshot by a cavernous 31-5 margin in a 4-0 loss at Wabash. Facing the Little Giants again at Faught Stadium on Tuesday night, the Grizzlies — who started nine freshmen — battled back from an early two-goal deficit before the visitors scored late to escape with a 3-2 victory.
Instead of a lopsided defeat, Franklin wound up lamenting what coach
Josh Hughes considered a winnable match that got away. Still, he was encouraged by what he saw overall.
"It shows an incredible amount of distance traveled from last year," Hughes said. "The way that we responded (after falling behind 2-0), the way that we competed — we never felt like we were out of the game, even down two, and that wasn't always the case before."
Wabash jumped on top just 38 seconds into the match on an Alfredo Campos goal, then doubled the lead with another tally just before the 16-minute mark. But the Grizzlies kept pushing forward, and they were able to break the ice with 22:29 left in the first half when a loose ball in the box found its way onto the foot of senior
Russell Bilohlavek, who hammered it into the back of the net.
The score held until the 70th minute, when Franklin tied the game on a 20-yard shot from freshman
Ulises Rivera that tucked itself just inside the left goalpost.
Riding high after pulling even, the Grizzlies surrendered the game-winner with 8:59 left in the match when a Campos cross from the right wing found the head of Bryce Kinnaman.
The visitors finished with a narrow 8-6 edge in shots overall. Freshman goalkeepers
Austin White and
Austin Horner combined for three saves and got some help from rookie defender
Darrell Cook, who cleared a loose ball out of the goal mouth late in the first half.
"We're this close," Hughes said, "but this close is the difference between how we feel and how they feel. It's a big step that we have to take. If we have a better first five minutes and we don't make a mental error (on the final goal), we're 2-0, out of here and happy. ... Instead, we had three moments of the game where we fell asleep and it cost us."
The Grizzlies will try to build on the positives of Tuesday's match when they return to their home turf Friday for a match against Albion. Start time is slated for 5 p.m.
