The Seymour girls soccer team had the right formula for stopping Columbus North and its high-scoring forward, Addy Lang, on Thursday night.
For 30 minutes.
After that, Lang went wild. She scored two goals in the final 10 minutes of the first half and two more in the first seven minutes of the second half, and the Bull Dogs went on to post a 6-0 victory in the semifinals of the North Sectional.
“They have a very solid player in the center there in Addy Lang, and we kept her at bay for 30 minutes,” Seymour coach Greg Musser said. “We got caught in transition, where she got a head of speed against us, and it’s hard to stop her. She’s just a very good player. It’s hard to keep her at bay for an entire game. You have to stay positionally sound against her. Her last two goals were on corner kicks, and we lost her in the fray there, which you can’t do with a player like that.”
The Bull Dogs (10-2-4) move into Saturday’s sectional final, where they will meet the winner of Thursday’s late game between Columbus East and Madison.
Lang’s first goal came in the 31st minute when she put in a rebound after a Rachel Collett save on a shot by North’s Tanner Johnson. Then in the 38th minute, Lang put one off the right post, but the ball bounced right back to her and she put it away.
“I just followed the ball from Tanner’s shot and was able to put it in,” Lang said. “The second goal was really lucky. I hit it off the post and it just came back and hit me, and I could finish it.”
After halftime, Lang struck again in the 42nd minute when she headed in a corner kick from Kristen Orben. Lang’s final goal came in the 47th minute when she finished another corner from Orben for a 4-0 lead.
The score stayed 4-0 until the 73rd minute when Johnson headed in a corner kick from Natalie Teo.
The Owls’ best scoring opportunity came in the 76th minute, with Kayla Griffin taking a free kick from just outside the box on the right side. But backup Bull Dogs keeper Kaylyn Bates smothered the ball to preserve the shutout.
North then added its sixth goal when Corrine Orben took a pass from Johnson and stuck it in from 25 yards.
“We didn’t play very well from the beginning,” Lang said. “We knew we didn’t come out as strong as we should have the first half, so we just had to change our mentality for the second half. We just played a lot stronger and needed to put a few more away to close out the game.”
The Bull Dogs outshot Seymour 31-4, putting 19 shots on goal to three for the Owls (8-8-2).
Liz Tynan played the first 68 minutes in goal for North and recorded two saves. Bates played the final 12 minutes in goal and had one save.
“The first half, we were a little sluggish and didn’t get off to a really good start,” North coach Derek Stewart said. “I thought we played much better the second half. I’m proud of their play and sticking with it and having a good result.”
