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Franklin Monroe sophomore, Shelby Bowser, battles Morgan Robbins for
control of the ball
Tuesday. The Lady Jets fell to the Indians, 3-1, in
a key Cross County Conference game.
CNO Photo by George Starks
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Lady Jets fall
in key conference game
By George Starks
PITSBURG- Coming into its game with Newton Tuesday, Franklin Monroe may
had had one of its worst outings of the season.
It’s no secret that to win the Cross County Conference in soccer, one
loss in the conference could be devastating.
That devastation could have come at the hands of the Indians.
Rachel Kirk scored the first goal of the night for the Tribe as Newton
went on to post a convincing 3-1 victory over the Lady Jets.
“This was a big league game for us and it all came down to who wanted
it the most,” said FM coach Scott Howell. “We worked all week on coming
out and playing with a little heart and we just didn’t play like we’ve
been playing. I guess we’ve just not been challenged. I guess they’re
that good, I don’t know. They have the best goalie in the league but we
just didn’t play well.”
It was a night when the Jets never got their engines started in a
lackluster performance.
Looking to run the ball up the middle against the Newton defense,
Franklin Monroe was stopped repeatedly.
“We wanted to go up the middle every time,” admitted Howell. “When that
wasn’t working, we needed to go outside but we never tried. We needed
to stretch the defense out and we didn’t do that. I think our younger
players played hard and we can still win the league but it’s not going
to be easy. We got beat to the ball, especially in the first half. In
the second half, we looked better but a lot of times it seem like we
were playing kickball.”
Trailing 1-0 at the break, FM was hit at the 11:55 mark of the
second and then again with 8:06 left in the game.
Avoiding the shutout, senior Bryanna Diceanu put one in the goal with a
mere 5.6 second remaining in the game.
With the Jets suffering their first loss of the season, teams like
Miami East and Lehman Catholic are staring them in the face.
“We have to get ready for some stiff competition,” said Howell. “This
was a winnable game for us but tomorrow’s a brand new day. We need to
stay positive.”
Franklin Monroe, 3-1, will host Northwestern on Saturday.
Another tough opponent on a very tough schedule.
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