GREENVILLE – The Franklin Monroe Lady Jets and the Lady Wave played to a 3-3 tie in a Monday night soccer match at Greenville’s Harmon Field.
“The effort on these girls this year has been fantastic,” said Franklin Monroe coach Danny Diceanu. “We’ve been under the gun with the injuries we’ve had this year.”
“The girls are playing with heart, they are playing with all the passion that we saw at the beginning,” said Greenville coach Samantha Grim, “so to see them actually do it now is exciting to see. They’ve definitely proven that they’re a team that loves to play together and plays with passion.”
The injury bug had the Lady Jets down to 10 healthy players taking the field of play, one short of a soccer starting lineup. Greenville coach Samantha Grim could have played 11 Lady Wave, but chose to go with 10 players on the night.
“I certainly appreciate the fact that they played down to 10 men as well,” said Coach Diceanu. “It was a great job, very sportsmanship and much appreciated.”
“I appreciate playing against Danny and FM,” Grim stated. “To come out and play just 10 and no subs, that says a lot about them as well. I wanted to make sure we are given the same respect if we had that and I would definitely pay the same respect. They have a rich history and are a good team to play against – that’s for sure.”
The Lady Wave jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with just one minute and eight seconds into the match with sophomore Taylor Gonzalez finding the back of the net.
The teams played to a 2-2 second half tie before Gonzalez hit her second Greenville goal of the night at 23:32 on the second half clock to give the Lady Wave a 3-2 advantage.”
“We chased the game,” Diceanu said. “They got up 1-0, we caught up – we just didn’t have enough gas to get over the hump. Give Greenville credit, they played well.”
Franklin Monroe senior, Chloe Brumbaugh scored her third goal of the non-conference match with 9:57 left in the contest to make it a 3-3 score that would prove the be the final score of the night.
“It’s gut-check time and these girls certainly are very responsive to it,” said Diceanu. “They have done a fantastic job of rising to the occasion, the challenge and the opponent on a hot day.”
“They all stood out, but definitely Tayor Gonzalez with having two goals,” Coach Grim said of her team’s play. “Kendra Arnold’s follow through with the ball and the assist from Eliza Wysong. That is definitely one of those things – we coach them and coach them and then when they finally do it – it’s like, yes, that’s what we’ve been working on.”