Franklin’s Izzy Traut, right, heads the ball during Wednesday’s match against Greenwood.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
Greenwood and Franklin both came into Wednesday evening’s season opener with unanswered questions. Both were able to find at least some answers without taking a loss.
The host Grizzly Cubs got a first-half goal and the Woodmen responded early in the second half, leaving both sides to come away with a 1-1 draw in Mid-State Conference action.
“I think there’s nerves in that first game when you start with a conference game,” Greenwood coach Dan Appelbaum said. “It kind of feels a little bit more, for better or worse, but I thought both teams battled and I’m happy we’re walking away with no major injuries.”
(No more injuries, anyway; the Woodmen already had starting goalkeeper Bre Wheatley, among others, on the shelf.)
The visitors controlled play for most of the first 10 minutes but couldn’t mount a serious scoring threat despite a pair of early corner kicks. The Grizzly Cubs were able to clear the ball out of their end after the second corner — and cashed in on the ensuing counterattack thanks in large part to the skill and physicality of Jazlinn Diaz-Avalos.
The sophomore striker fought her way through the Greenwood defense deep into the right corner before getting free and chipping the ball to the 18-yard line in front of the goal. Her pass found an open Bailey Woodburn, whose shot glanced off of a defender and into the left side of the net late in the 12th minute of play.
“Jaz is one of our players that, even if she takes a hit, she’s going to keep going,” first-year Franklin coach Garrett Belden said of Diaz-Avalos. “In that case, she took like three or four and just kept grinding. Put the work in, was able to find the ball to Bailey up top, and Bailey slotted it right away.”
Woodburn’s goal seemed to further boost the Grizzly Cubs, who kept the ball mostly on the Woodmen side of the pitch for the remainder of the first half. Greenwood was, however, able to keep Franklin’s offense at bay as goalkeeper Brookelyn Benefiel stepped forward to snuff out a couple of runs at the goal.
Greenwood opened the second half on the offensive, with freshman Lizzy Metzger putting a shot on frame in the 42nd minute. Franklin keeper Sophie Taylor was able to stop that one, but Woodmen junior Joelle Young tied the match in the 47th when she hammered one home from the top of the box.
“We had Lizzy try to be more connected with our midfield,” Appelbaum said of the in-game adjustments that helped his team start generating more offense. “That allowed a lot more of that combination that you saw at the end of the first half going into the second half — which allowed her more space but also forced their defenders to step higher, and that allowed our width to take over.”
Both teams had opportunities for a potential go-ahead goal in the last 30 minutes of regulation, with the visitors creating the more dangerous chances. Metzger got a clean look with a little more than 22 minutes to go, but Taylor was able to turn that shot away. The junior made another big stop when Greenwood’s Makena Cruse got behind the Grizzly Cub defense about eight minutes later.
Belden was pleased with the Grizzly Cubs’ defensive effort on Wednesday; going forward, he says, the focus will be on building the offense a little bit more to generate more scoring opportunities.
”We made some definite strides in the direction that we want to head,” Belden said. “We’ve got some work that we need to do, but they’re just going to keep grinding and we’ll get there.”
Appelbaum, likewise, is looking for a little more offensive punch.
“We didn’t get as many opportunities as I’d hoped,” he said. “We’re still a little hesitant pulling the trigger from distance. I think we’re in good shape to go against (the rest of the) conference.
