After a tough loss against Columbus East on Thursday, the Owls soccer team hosted Franklin Community on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Grizzly Cubs 3-0, grabbing their fifth win of the season.

The boys’ used stellar defense and setting their offense up at the right times throughout the day to get the victory.

Marckenson Paul found the back of the net twice, hitting the first goal in the final seconds of the first half. Paul added his second goal in the 72nd minute of the contest. Evan Unterseher recorded both assists for the Owls

Seymour Head Coach Matthew Dennis did not have any complaints after the shutout win.

“I think we were a little emotionally let down from Thursday,” Dennis said. “Franklin is a different team to play against tactically, so we made a lot of subs in the first 30 minutes of that half. Once we got everyone on the same page during the final minutes of the first half, those final minutes were key for us, and we adjusted.”

The second half was all about emulating the end of the first half according to the coach.

“In the second half we re-emphasized the coaching points and talked about tactically getting the runs behind and the boys executed that flawlessly,” he said.

Thai Daraswad scored the other goal in the 63rd minute for Seymour, which was assisted by Bartolome Sebastian.

Everyone also did their jobs according to Dennis, who was pleased with the effort from the team on Saturday.

“It was good to see that we were able to change the way we played, Myles (Chandler) occupied the two center backs on Marckenson’s first goal,” he said. “If Myles doesn’t do his job, Evan can’t win that ball to play the ball to Marckenson. It was just a good all-around performance with guys doing what they are supposed to, and helping out their teammates.”

Paul and Goalkeeper Lance Hubbard both spoke about their performances. It was the third and fourth goal of the season for Paul, who enjoyed the win against the Grizzly Cubs.

“It was an amazing feeling to score twice, but I couldn’t have done it without the help of my teammates and Evan (Unterseher) with the passes,” Paul said. It was a difficult game, but we managed and pulled through,” Paul said. “It was a beautiful day with some great people around.”

Hubbard recorded seven saves to secure the shutout. It is the third shutout of the season for the senior goalie, who spoke about getting the win.

“It definitely feels good,” Hubbard said, “Especially coming off the game with Columbus East allowing two goals in the first half. That really got to us. Coming out here and scoring three goals and shutting them out set a tone, hopefully for the second half of the season.”

Seymour has some tough opponents ahead, traveling to Martinsville on Tuesday and then to New Albany on Thursday. The Owls then host Floyd Central next Tuesday before hosting another home game with Madison on Thursday. Seymour then travels to Lawrenceburg on Saturday.

“We need to improve a little bit technically, we know that we’ve got some really good teams coming up,” Dennis said. “Martinsville is a tough game. It will be a great test for us.”

Paul and Hubbard are believers in the 2024 Seymour team and are prepared for their upcoming stretch of games.

“We have confidence and belief along with a good attitude and an amazing coach,” Paul said. “We’re excited for the challenge, and I think we’re ready for this.”

“Our belief, just like Marckenson said,” Hubbard said. “We believe that we are going to do it, we are so connected to each other and talk to each other every single day.”

Seymour has developed quite the culture in the boys’ soccer program with players as close as ever and constantly working together to achieve bigger things.

Paul really enjoys being a part of that.

“We are family, we’re not just a team, and we believe in one another, we love each other, respect each other and enjoy being around one another,” he said.

Coach Dennis spoke about what the team must do to take the next step.

“We just need to be better in our execution, we can do anything we want at a certain pace,” Dennis said, “We need to be able to make quicker decisions and play technically better at a faster pace and if we can do that then we’re going to have a pretty special end to the season.”

Seymour’s JV team won their matchup with Franklin 4-0, improving to 2-3-2 on the season. The Owls (5-3) will travel to Martinsville on Tuesday for a match at 7 p.m.

The JV match begins at 5:30 p.m.

Seymour 3, Franklin 0

Score Sheet:

First half

S: Marckenson Paul (Evan Unterseher) 40th minute

Second half

S: Thai Daraswad (Bartolome Sebastian) 63rd minute

S: Marckenson Paul (Evan Unterseher) 72nd minute

Statistics

Saves: Lance Hubbard, 7.

Assists: Evan Unterseher 2, Bartolome Sebastian 1.