Women's soccer team loses to Bluffton
The Franklin Grizzlies still continue to struggle in the debut season of head coach Scott Moulton. The Grizzlies lost to Bluffton 3-0 Saturday.
“We should beat Bluffton,” Moulton said Wednesday after the Millikin game.
“We have struggled with controlling the ball this season,” Moulton said. “We gave the ball up 83 times against Spalding on Sunday and over 50 times against Millikin, Wednesday. We give ourselves no shot at winning giving the ball up over 50 times.”
“In practice this week we worked only on passing the ball and hoping that it will help start making better passes and establish possession time,” Moulton said. “On top of passing we need to establish that we can compete for 90 minutes straight.”
It doesn’t help to have a team that is bruised and is not up to playing capability.
“Junior Rachel Whipker is battling illness and is nursing an ankle injury suffered in Illinois Wednesday,” Moulton said. “Sophomore Chelsea Parks is cleared, but if she gets barraged by shots, she could have permanent damage done. Freshman Dez Esper is battling the flu; senior Olivia Lower was unable to make the trip. Junior Shay Skene is still battling a leg injury suffered last Wednesday in Cincinnati, freshman Lauren Hawes is sick as well and sophomore Syd Surface is still nursing a back strain. We do have 11 players though.”
The Grizzlies are allowing an average of three goals per game in conference play and are still scoreless and winless in conference games.
“We can’t allow a goal in the first two minutes as we have the past four games,” Moulton said. “We also are going to evaluate Chelsea as the game goes on to ensure that she recovers and isn’t hurt permanently. We can’t allow for 35 to 40 shots be on goal to make the evaluation easier.”
The first goal came in the 36th minute when senior Allison White snuck the ball past Parks. Freshman Alex Jess got the only assist on the game and the only other point in the game.
On the goal, Parks went out to cut down the angle and White just stepped outside of the sliding Parks and kicked it past her and fellow sophomore Jena Elder.
“That goal happened because of a lack of communication,” Moulton said. “We played 35 minutes of stellar soccer. We created opportunities and we were stringing passes together. We just don’t talk on the field.”
The half ended with the Beavers of Bluffton with a slight 1-0 lead heading into the second half. Parks had to face five shots in the half.
The second half began slowly with the Grizzlies on the defensive from the outset. In the 62nd minute White struck again for her second goal in the game. The scoring came to a close in the 87th minute with a rarity in soccer. White accomplished a hat trick with a third goal.
Parks faced seven shots in the second half and stopped five.
Neither coach was available for interview after the contest.
The Grizzlies has three contests left in the year. All are HCAC match-ups and the Grizzlies could shake up the conference in the last two weeks of the year.
