Men's Soccer plays Franklin to a scoreless draw

FRANKLIN, Ind. - The Defiance College men's soccer team picked up a point on the road Saturday afternoon as the Yellow Jackets and Franklin Grizzlies played to a scoreless draw at Faught Stadium. 

The Yellow Jackets are now 4-6-5 overall and 1-2-3 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Franklin moves to 3-7-4 overall and 2-2-2 in the HCAC. 

The first shot of the game came from Defiance's Riley Hensley in the third minute. Jeremy Fuller recorded the first shot on goal in the 10th minute. Lucas Pereira recorded the first shot of the game for Franklin and it was saved by Orry Killam. The Grizzlies would have a 12-5 advantage in shots during the first half as the teams entered halftime scoreless. 

The Grizzlies came out of halftime firing and recorded a shot on goal three minutes into the second half. Armando Campos-Ortiz had one of the best opportunities for the Yellow Jackets in the 56th minute but Franklin's keeper Ian Rowe recorded the save as the ball came off his left foot and skipped in front of the goal. 

The second half was largely controlled by the Yellow Jackets despite each team recording nine shots during the half and Defiance recorded four more corner kicks than the Grizzlies in the second half.

Riley Hensley nearly put DC ahead in the 82nd minute but his right footed shot just snuck wide right of the post. All six corner kicks for the Yellow Jackets came in a five minute span late in the second half but Franklin's keeper and their defense never surrendered a goal despite the ball ricocheting multiple times in front of the goal. 

With less than a minute to go, the Yellow Jackets almost converted a last minute prayer. Riley Hensely sent a ball into the box, the Franklin keeper Rowe came off his spot and nearly collided with his own guy and a Defiance player, the ball kept trickling towards the goal but it did not have enough juice on it as the Franklin defense kicked the ball out of bounds to end the game.

Orry Killam posted his first shutout of the year and made six saves in the game. Hensley, Joshua Maurer, and Griffin Meyer each recorded multiple shot attempts. 

The Yellow Jackets are back in action Wednesday, Oct. 18 at Bluffton with kick-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m.