Franklin County's Loui Arellano, in blue, moves the ball up the field with a defender in pursuit during a game Tuesday against Central Magnet High School. Arellano scored a goal in the 2-1 loss.
The Franklin County High School boys soccer team lost to the Central Magnet Tigers 2-1 at home Tuesday for the team’s third loss of the season.
Franklin County took the lead late in the first half, but the Tigers flipped the scoreboard after the halftime break to give Franklin County its first district defeat of the year.
Franklin County head soccer coach Kent Bean said that the game could have gone either way with the breaks going against his team late.
“I don’t think that we outplayed them in the first half. We just were able to turn a takeaway into a goal, but I think that we struggled a little bit in the first half just to move the ball up the field,” he said. “I think we did a better job of it in the second half. We just gave up really two unfortunate goals. You give up one on a PK with light contact, and then the second one is a deflection off our defender. Those are tough to stop for anybody.”
Bean added that he thought his players performed well overall, but they need to do a better job of being calm when they are pressured by the other team.
The Tigers kept the ball on Franklin County’s side of the field for most of the first half, but goalkeeper Mason Woodall and the defense were able to keep them off the board.
The scoreless tie would be broken with 3:36 remaining in the first half as a series of deflections in front of Central Magnet’s goal ended in Loui Arellano sneaking the ball across the goal line for his first score of the season.
Franklin County led 1-0 at halftime.
The Tigers were awarded a penalty kick with 27 minutes to go in the contest, and the ensuing attempt found the left corner of the net for an equalizer.
The Tigers then took the lead with about 20 minutes to go as a hard shot bounced off of a Franklin County defender and ricocheted into the net to make it a 2-1 game.
Franklin County launched multiple attacks on the opposing goal in the time remaining, but the Tigers continually held them off to seal the loss by one.
With the loss, Franklin County moved to 4-3-1 on the season and 2-1 in district play.
The boys soccer team will next play Thursday at Cascade High School. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.