Lady Soccer Dawgs take pair of district wins

Franklin County’s varsity Lady Dawgs soccer team picked up a pair of early season district wins last week — shutting out both Bogue Chitto, 2-0, on Thursday, Dec. 8 and Wesson Attendance Center, 3-0, on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

The victories boosted FC to 7-1-1 on the 2022-2023 campaign and to 2-0 in Mississippi High School Activities Association Class I District 7 play.

FC 2, BOGUE CHITTO 0

The Lady Soccer Dawgs scored a single goal in each half of last Thursday’s showdown against Bogue Chitto and collected a total of 83 defensive stops en route to a 2-0 road win.

FC’s Lilly Hutto and Brooklynn Cupit found the net for a goal apiece in the contest with Hutto and Kaitlyn Fussell each credited with an assist.

In addition on offense, the Lady Dawgs had 30 shots and 15 shots on goal against Bogue Chitto with Cupit and Karlee Wallace pacing the team with six shots and three SOG each. Fussell wound up with five shots and three shots on goal as Hutto recorded four shots and three SOG.

Gre’yonne Queen accounted for three shots and one shot on goal and Kendra Jones finished with a pair of shots.

Carmon Coleman and Edniya Gordon had one shot and a single shot on goal each with Amberly Wallace and Marlee Tindle having a solo shot apiece.

On defense, Karlee Wallace paced FC with 11 stops with Addison Cooper and Amberly Wallace chipping in nine take-aways apiece. Braxton Martin finished with eight stops and Hutto was credited with seven.

Also collecting stops for the Lady Soccer Dawgs were Fussell, six; Ken’niya McGowan, six; Meg Kelly, five; Coleman, five; Cupit, four; Tindle, four; Jones, three; Queen, three; and Gordon, three.

Katherine Romero earned the shut-out win with a single dramatic second-half save in 80 minutes of work as goalkeeper.

“We may have been a little over confident and relaxed in the first half and had chances to put the game out of reach several times,” Franklin County Head Soccer Coach Jeff Long said.

“I like the way we responded in the second half, and I was extra proud of Hutto and Fussell for picking up their level of play after intermission.

“When we begin to convert more on our scoring opportunities that will take pressure off the defense and we should be tough to beat, especially with how well our defense is playing along with Romero having a great season in goal.”

FC 3, WESSON 0

The Lady Soccer Dawgs scored twice before intermission and once more after the mid-game break to knock off Wesson in FC’s district debut on Tuesday, Dec. 6 in a contest played at Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

Karlee Wallace, Fussell and Queen all scored for Franklin County with Cupit earning two assists along the way.

The Lady Soccer Dawgs had 28 shots and 14 shots on goal with Karlee Wallace accounting for seven shots and three SOG.

Cupit and Queen recorded six shots apiece with the duo also credited with three shots on goal, and Fussell ended up with five shots and three SOG.

Gordon and Hutto wound up with a pair of shots and one shot on goal each for FC.

The Lady Soccer Dawgs had 90 defensive stops against Wesson as McGowan led things on this side of the ball with 11 take-aways as Karlee Wallace and Hutto contributed 10 apeice.

Other defenders and their individual take-aways totals included: Cooper, nine; Amberly Wallace, nine; Martin, nine; Tindle, six; Cupit, five; Queen, four; Kelly, four; Coleman, three; Fussell, three; Jones, two; Gordon, two; Addison Lunsford, one; Bradi Wallace, one; and Savannah Emfinger, one.

Romero earned another goalkeeper shut-out thanks to three saves against Wesson.

“The girls were looking forward to this game after giving one away last time we played here,” Long said. “I’m proud of the way we responded. We executed the game plan perfectly and were solid in all aspects of the game.”

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UPCOMING GAMES

Franklin County’s varsity girls will close out the first half of their regular season with a road contest against district opponent Loyd Star on Thursday, Dec. 15.

The Lady Soccer Dawgs will return to action following the holidays on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at Purvis.