Big Day By Franklin Leads CNU Past LaGrange, 6-0
LaGRANGE, Ga. -- Senior midfielder Danny Franklin, held scoreless to this point in the season, broke out in a huge way on Saturday as he led the Captains to a blowout victory at LaGrange College, 6-0. The 20th-ranked Captains improved to 12-2-2 overall and 5-1-1 in conference play, moving into a tie for first place in the USA South standings.
Franklin scored two goals and assisted on two more for a career-high performance of six points. He had a hand in four straight scores in Saturday's game, as the Captains ran away with the shutout victory.
Coming into Saturday's game against LaGrange (3-12-0, 0-7-0), the Captains two leading scorers, Jalon Brown and Andrew Bonorden, had combined for 55 total points this season, nearly half of the team's output. They would get just one on Saturday, though, as Brown assisted on the game-winning goal early.
Just six minutes into the first half, Brown set up junior Caleb Lewis for his fifth goal of the season and first game-winning tally. The Captains would then showcase their depth in the win, as the bench would come on to score the remaining five goals and added three assists.
Senior Michael Breske scored off of Franklin's first assist in the 34th minute of play, and then Franklin's first score of the game would be set up by Jack Cooper in the 42nd minute.
In the second half, Franklin scored on a long pass by defender Brendan Cook and then would wrap up his fine performance with an assist on Alex Makumbi's second goal of the year.
Christopher Newport would finish off the day with a goal by rookie Hunter Hartnett in the 80th minute, unassisted. CNU scored on six of their 19 shots while the defense held the home team to just one shot, off-frame. Donnie Palmer made five saves in goal for the Panthers, as CNU peppered the LaGrange keeper with 12 shots on-goal.
The Captains will wrap up the regular season conference slate on Sunday, as they travel to Piedmont College (5-8-2, 0-4-2). A win would guarantee at least a share of the 2012 regular season conference championship. Live stats will be available at kickoff, set for 3:00 pm in Demorest, Georgia, and the link can be found at CNUsports.com.
