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Franklinton’s Lady Demons Soccer defeated Salmen High School on Friday evening by a score of 2-1 to cap off the regular season.

The Lady Demons were led by Madysen Varnado and Keylin Lopez, who each scored one goal. Keeper Susan Bradford secured a number of critical saves in the victory.

“I am incredibly proud of this team,” Franklinton coach Matt Hughes said. “These young ladies never stopped battling. It has been a challenging season, to say the least. Quarantines, illnesses and various other circumstances put quite a dent in our numbers for the majority of the season.”

Friday’s victory marked the Lady Demons’ third win of the season.

Brooklyn Pedersen and Mercedes Lopez provided great offensive support in the midfield,” Hughes said.

Hughes noted that Maggie Smith, Paulina Lopez and Bailey Burdette made several impactful defensive plays throughout the course of the match.

“Salmen played a very physical brand of soccer,” Hughes said. “We haven’t seen that this year. I think it stunned us a bit at first. We struggled to maintain our spacing early in the game. But we were able to settle in, move the ball around on offense and come up with enough stops defensively to win.”

“We made significant progress this year, no question. We still have a lot of work to do in terms of changing the culture, developing athletically, being comfortable with expectations and creating a winning mindset. But those things will come. We took steps forward throughout the year and greatly improved from last year’s performance,” Hughes said.”

“Coach (Jonathan) Barber and I truly enjoyed coaching these young ladies. We are very very young. These girls have a bright future. It is our job as coaches to give them the resources they need to elevate their level of play and reach their potential. If we commit to doing things the right way, day in and day out, the sky is the limit for us,” Hughes said.