FC girls soccer claims win, tie

The Franklin County varsity Lady Soccer Dawgs blanked visiting Lawrence County, 5-0, on Tuesday, Nov. 8 before ending in a 1-all draw at home against North Pike on Thursday, Nov. 10.

FC 5, LAWRENCE COUNTY 0

Offensively, Franklin County scored three of its goals during the first half and two more after the intermission of last Tuesday’s showdown against the Lady Cougars while, on defense, goalkeeper Katherine Romero collected the shut-out thanks to five saves during her 80 minutes in front of the net.

“This was another solid performance from the girls,” FC Head Soccer Coach Jeff Long said following the game. “They continue to impress me with their intensity, focus and determination.

“They are attacking together, defending together and our bench has contributed in two-straight games without any momentum turning.”

In all, the Lady Dawgs had 39 shots with 22 shots on goal in facing the Lady Cougars with Karlee Wallace accounting for a team-high eight shots and four SOG. Brooklyn Cupit finished her night with six shots and four shots on goal.

Both Wallace and Cupit had a goal apiece to their credit when the dust settled with Cupit’s score coming on a penalty kick.

FC’s Kaitlyn Fussell and Gre’Yonne Queen both had a goal in conjunction with five shots and three shots on goal apiece.

In addition, Lilly Hutto and Carmon Coleman both recorded three shots and two SOG.

Among those with two shots and one SOG were Addison Lunsford, Amberly Wallace, Edniya Gordon and Kendra Jones with Jones credited with another FC goal, which was her first score for the Lady Soccer Dawgs.

Braxton Martin also had a single shot for FC.

Cupit paced Franklin County with two assists while Gordon and Fussell had one each.

In terms of defense, Addison Cooper led the way with a team-high 10 stops as Karlee Wallace contributed nine and Hutto and Amberly Wallace finished with eight each.

Other defensive stops were made by Martin, seven; Ken’niya McGowan, six; Meg Kelly, five; Marlee Tindle, five; Cupit, five; Coleman, four; Fussell, four; Queen, four; Gordon, three; Lunsford, two; Bradi Wallace, two; Jones, two; Jayla Ward, one; and Savannah Emfinger, one.

FC 1, NORTH PIKE 1

While Franklin County had no shortage of shots in last Thursday’s showdown at home against North Pike, the one thing that proved most elusive was goal-scoring.

In fact, FC trailed 1-0 through most of the contest before Hutto was able to score late in the contest on a penalty kick.

“We didn’t have our best game, but I was proud of the way our girls responded to the adversity,” Long said of his team’s efforts.

“North Pike had several outstanding players with speed with McGowan doing a great job of staying with their strongest offensive threat and Romero made some incredible saves.”

“We lost Cupit to an ankle injury that limited our attack, but our team improved, learned how to battle back and earned a tie against a talented and determined team.”

As a squad, FC had 27 total shots with 10 shots on goal as Karlee Wallace led the way with eight shots and three SOG while Hutto and Fussell had four shots and two SOG each.

Kayleigh Foy and Queen ended their efforts with three shots and one SOG apiece while Coleman had two shots and one SOG with two shots for Gordon and one for Jones.

Cooper paced FC’s defense for the second game in a row thanks to a team-high nine stops with McGowan and Karlee Wallace adding eight each and Martin with seven.

Other players with defensive take-aways for the Lady Soccer Dawgs included: Hutto, six; Kelly, five; Fussell, five; Queen, four; Emfinger, three; Tindle, three; Foy, three; Jones, two; Coleman, two; and Gordon, one.

In front of the goal, keeper Katherine Romero had eight saves while surrendering only one goal to North Pike during an 80-minute performance.

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JUNIOR VARSITY

FC 3, NORTH PIKE 2

Franklin County’s junior varsity girls soccer team came from behind in its regular season debut on Thursday, Nov. 10 to claim a 3-2 win over North Pike.

Foy, Coleman and Briana Stokes all recorded a single goal each for the JV Lady Soccer Dawgs, who improved to 1-0 on the season.

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UPCOMING GAMES

Franklin County’s varsity girls were slated to play Monday, Nov. 14 on the road at Morton with results from that contest appearing in next week’s print edition of The Franklin Advocate due to press deadlines.

The JV and varsity Lady Soccer Dawgs will travel to Lawrence County on Thursday, Nov. 17 with games starting at 4 and 6 p.m., respectively.

FC’s varsity girls are slated to open Class I District 7 season play at home against Hazlehurst on Tuesday, Nov. 29 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The JV and varsity girls will then head to Brookhaven on Thursday, Dec. 1 with the former taking the field at 4 p.m. with the latter’s game beginning around 6 p.m.