After a 7-0-1 start to the girls soccer season, Columbus North ran into a wall the past couple of weeks.
The Bull Dogs, who had gone 0-2-1 in their past three games, picked up their first win in 17 days Saturday when they rolled to a 7-0 Conference Indiana victory against Perry Meridian.
“We had a tough stretch of games there, so the spacing of the games and the timing is a little bit more favorable right now,” North coach Derek Stewart said.
Caroline Hollenkamp netted her first career hat trick for the Bull Dogs (8-2-2, 4-2-1). Tanner Johnson and Christy DeDomenic each added two goals.
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Hollenkamp, a center midfielder, had not scored more than one goal in a high school game before erupting Saturday.
“It was different,” Hollenkamp said. “I’m not used to it. I’m not usually a goal scorer.”
Hollenkamp got things started with a goal in the third minute. Johnson connected on a penalty kick in the sixth minute. DeDomenic then scored in the 29th minute and assisted on a Hollenkamp goal in the 31st minute. Johnson finished an assist from Elise Whitley in the 35th minute, and North led 5-0 at halftime.
In the second half, Hollenkamp scored off an assist from Whitley in the 50th minute. DeDomenic added the final tally in the 75th minute.
DeDomenic’s goals were her first of the season.
“I think we did pretty good at passing the ball around, and we had pretty good control the whole time,” DeDomenic said. “There wasn’t a lot of pressure put on us, so we had time to think about what we wanted to do and play smart.”
The Bull Dogs were without starting goalkeeper Liz Tynan, who had scheduled a college visit before the game was rescheduled from a Sept. 13 rainout. Kaylyn Bates played the first 62 minutes in goal and recorded one save.
Bates then took a turn in the field, and Hollenkamp moved into the goal and posted one save over the final 18 minutes.
“We got to play some people in different positions, which is nice,” Stewart said. “We moved some of our backs up into the front and moved some of the forwards who traditionally play up top to the back line. It was nice to see different players in different positions.”
North outshot the Falcons 16-2.
The Bull Dogs have two more regular-season games this week before playing in next week’s Columbus East Sectional. The tournament draw is at 7 p.m. today.
“We’ve come out more united in the past few games, and we’re really going to need that on Tuesday against Batesville,” DeDomenic said. “I think ‘s it’s a good start to have this booster before we go into the next few games.”
