A young Franklin men's soccer team in search of a break couldn't seem to catch one on Friday evening.
Playing the front end of a back-to-back against Spalding, the Grizzlies gave up a second-half penalty kick and couldn't net the equalizer during a closing flurry, suffering a 1-0 setback at Faught Stadium.
Franklin (0-4-2) outshot the Golden Eagles 9-6 in the second half and 9-8 overall, but was unable to find the back of the net.
"We still have to create more chances and give ourselves a bigger margin of error," Griz coach
Josh Hughes said. "Everything comes down to one moment."
Neither side generated any quality opportunities during a back-and-forth first half, but the action picked up a bit after the break. Spalding registered a pair of shots on goal during the first 10 minutes of the second half, with freshman goalie
Austin White making the stop both times. Then, with 28:13 remaining in the match, the Grizzlies were whistled for a foul inside the box, giving the Golden Eagles a penalty kick. White guessed the correct direction but was unable to turn away a hard shot to the right side of the net.
With just over 10 minutes remaining, a red card against the visitors gave the Griz a man advantage the rest of the way, but while the opportunities were there — including shots on frame by
Oscar Garcia,
Tripp O'Brien and
Lane Trump in the final three minutes of play — Franklin couldn't pull even before time expired.
White finished with three saves in a losing effort for the Grizzlies, who will be right back on the Faught turf Saturday night (6:30 p.m.) against Eureka.
