After her team struggled to put the ball in the net much of last season, Franklin women's soccer coach
Jennifer Jackson made some changes in an effort to jump-start the offense.
The early returns are pretty promising.
Five different players tallied goals on Tuesday evening as the Grizzlies cruised to a 6-0 win at Olivet in their season opener.
"Love six goals in the net," Jackson said. "I knew we could do it, but great to see it happen."
Senior
Amirah Curry got Franklin off and running with a pair of goals in the first 13 minutes — the first off an assist from freshman
Trinity Inglert and the second courtesy of a dime from classmate
Lauren Barker.
Inglert then scored her first collegiate goal in the 19th minute, and fellow newcomer
Mylee McAdams followed with one of her own with 18:25 to go in the first half.
Barker found the net eight and a half minutes into the second half off a Curry assist, and senior
Emma Myers capped the scoring with 21:16 remaining.
The game — which started three hours later than originally scheduled due to a last-minute venue change to nearby Olivet High School — was cut short by three minutes due to lightning in the area.
Griz junior
Emma Watson made a pair of saves to preserve the shutout for Franklin, which finished with a 20-3 advantage in total shots and had five corner kicks without surrendering any at the other end.
Barker and Inglert each finished with two assists in the win.
While Jackson acknowledged that a new formation helped bring about the result, she said the win was more a product of "the competitive intensity and wanting to do the work defensively to win the ball."
The Grizzlies will play their first home match of the season on Friday evening when they welcome Blackburn to Faught Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. showdown.
