Boys soccer: Ben Franklin collects late goal for 1-1 draw with Willow School

Ben Franklin found itself trailing by one goal late in its Division II, District 9 match against reigning Division III champion and Division II newcomer The Willow School on Saturday afternoon at Brees Family Field.

The referees called a Lions’ player for a foul in the penalty box in the 74th minute that gave Lewis Preau an opportunity for the equalizer with a penalty kick.

Preau drilled the shot to the right of the Willow goalkeeper that provided the final margin in a 1-1 draw.

“We were fighting really hard to get back into this game,” Preau said. “We got lucky with a penalty call, and I just wanted to score so bad. I was really calm and collected, and it was a very easy finish.”

Willow (8-0-1, 0-0-1) created a quality chance to get the win under the two-minute mark in the match when Kerry Sanders had a breakaway run at the goal. But Falcons goalkeeper Adam Kirschman came out of goal and deflected the shot attempt to prevent the scoring opportunity.

The goal by Franklin (5-1-1, 1-0-1) was the first goal allowed by Willow this season. The Lions have played up in competition against Division I teams such as Brother Martin, Dutchtown and St. Amant.

“It’s a little frustrating to see that goal on the score sheet now,” Willow coach Ben Barcelona said. “We’ve gotten results, and we’re proud of that streak we had to start the season. It was all against solid teams, and I think that’s something to hang your hat on. We’re still doing everything defensively that we want, and we’re happy with that.”

Willow took a 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute when Sal Glasco scored on a penalty kick after a Franklin player was called for a foul in the penalty box.

The Lions had other chances to score with six shots and three corner kicks in the match. Its best threat in the first half came off a corner kick in the 21st minute when the ball bounced around in the penalty box, and Kirschman punched the loose ball out of harm’s way.

“The biggest story of our season so far has been playing and having a lot of opportunities but only winning 1-0 or 2-0,” Barcelona said. “I think we’ve had opportunities that we’re not putting away, and I think that’s the nature of it when you play good competition. But we definitely have to fix that.”

The Falcons did not put much pressure on the goal until the final 20 minutes of the match. All three shot attempts by Franklin came in that time period.

“That’s the problem with our team,” Preau said. “It’s about setting the tone early. We usually go down early and are able to collect ourselves and start fighting harder. We need to have that energy from the start of the game. We definitely would have won today’s game if we had that intensity throughout the whole match.”