GREENWOOD — Midway through the second half of Thursday night’s sectional semifinal, Columbus North’s Jenna Lang stole a pass at midfield, dribbled halfway to the goal and rocketed a shot that bounced off the inside of the left post.
Two minutes later, Center Grove scored what proved to be the game-winning goal. With the Bull Dogs pushed forward in the final minute, the eighth-ranked Trojans added a late goal to finish off a 3-1 victory over No. 11 North and advance to Saturday’s 7 p.m. final.
“I felt like we had several opportunities,” North coach David Young said. “We hit a couple posts. A couple no-calls at crucial situations during the game hurt us. Overall, I felt like we played our game plan to a ‘T,’ and sometimes, we don’t get the breaks.”
The Trojans (15-2-1) controlled the game’s first 20 minutes, but the Bull Dogs (14-3) controlled the final 20 minute of the first half.
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In the 29th minute, Jenna Lang was fouled, and North was awarded a free kick a few yards outside the box. Lang’s low liner found the right side of the net for her 29th goal of the season, and the Bull Dogs led 1-0.
The game stayed that way until halftime, but in the second half, Center Grove regained control. Jostin Reeves scored the tying goal off an assist from Kayli Farmer in the 45th minute, and Reeves added the go-ahead tally off an assist from Emily Karr in the 60th minute after Lang’s shot off the post.
At that point, the Trojans were double-teaming Lang. North was unable to get much offense going in the second half, managing only three shots, with none on goal.
Center Grove was awarded a penalty kick in the 78th minute. Bull Dogs goalkeeper Kaylyn Bates stopped that shot, but the Trojans got a breakaway with 38 seconds remaining to put it away.
Center Grove finished with a 16-8 shot advantage, putting 11 on goal to two for North. Bates recorded eight saves.
“We has a successful season, I felt like,” Young said. “We had three losses, two of which were to a very good Center Grove team. They’re coached well. They have really good players, a solid team overall, and I think they’ll make some noise the rest of the tournament.”
The Bull Dogs lose only two senior starters — Bates and midfielder Caroline Hollenkamp — to graduation.
“We’ll move on from this,” Young said. “We’re a young team. At one point this year, we were starting eight freshmen and sophomores. We’ll be back. We’re going to miss the seniors. They were a big part of the program, but we’ll move on. We’re going go be very successful for the years to come, and we just look to the future now.”
