Playing its fourth game in eight days, Columbus North girls soccer coach David Young decided to give his top players a little bit of a rest to start Saturday’s game against Floyd Central.
Young brought Jenna Lang, Lauren Barker and K.J. Ely off the bench midway through the first half. Although the Bull Dogs didn’t score in the first half, Ely and Lang netted goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, and North went on to post a 3-0 victory.
“We started a little bit different lineup today,” Young said. “It was a matter of saving the legs. The girls played last Saturday, Monday and Wednesday and I just felt like we needed to give those girls a break, so we let some girls who normally come off the bench play the first 25 minutes. The pressure we were able to apply and keeping fresh legs out there really helped us out.”
Ely broke the ice in the 46th minute when she scored off a cross from Barker.
“The first goal is always really relieving, and I think it builds momentum for the rest of the game,” Ely said. “It gives us motivation to finish another one and continue.”
Lang did that four minutes later when she scored off a pass from Lauryn Whitley.
“We talked about how we needed to work on our crosses and finish in the box,” Ely said. “Jenna and I both had our goals on crosses, and that really helped us out.”
The Class 3A No. 15 Bull Dogs (5-1) finished the scoring in the 65th minute when Emily Kleinhelter took a pass from Rion Stevens and put one in off the left post from 15 yards out.
North outshot the Highlanders 27-0, putting 12 shots on goal. Layla Terry started in goal in place of Mallory Gilley, who was sick, and did not face a shot.
Fifteen of the Bull Dogs’ 27 shots came in the second half.
“We just talked about going forward and certain personnel going forward,” Young said. “We saw a couple of areas on the field that we could attack. We positioned Whitley a little more into the attack, and we had a lot more chances.”
Ely, an outside midfielder who became more of an offensive player in the second half, didn’t mind coming off the bench.
“We really want to work on our options incase anything happens in the future with our starting players,” Ely said. “We want to build up our bench. We’re all one team, and we help each other. I think today we learned that all players can step up and help out when needed.”
