It was a nip-and-tuck battle Saturday afternoon when Columbus North battled Terre Haute North in a Conference Indiana clash.
In the end, it was the visiting Patriots that escaped with a 2-1 victory over the Class 3A No. 11 Bull Dogs to remain undefeated in conference play, while handing the Bull Dogs their first conference defeat.
Although Columbus North controlled much of the possession in the first half, it had a difficult time solving the Patriots stingy defense. And although the Bull Dogs couldn’t find the net, they held Terre Haute North off the scoreboard until the 19th minute, when Liz Humphrey was able to break through off a pass from Sasha Thompson to give the Patriots a 1-0 lead.
“I thought that we started out strong with our possession,” Columbus North coach Derek Steward said. “But then we seemed to fade away. You can’t do that against a good team that has won that last couple of conference championships.”
The score remained 1-0 for the remainder of the half, and each team traded jabs, but could not break through for any other goals.
It wasn’t until the 47th minute that the Bull Dogs (7-2, 2-1) were able to get on the scoreboard. After taking a pass from Jenna Lang, KJ Ely was able to hook a shot into the net from the left side of the goal to even the score at 1-1, giving Columbus North new life.
But the Terre Haute North (10-2, 4-0) was able to answer back just eight minutes later. In the 55th minute, Elisa Simoni managed to sneak a shot from the left side of the goal just over the fingertips of Bull Dog goalkeeper Kaylyn Bates and just under the crossbar to give Terre Haute North the game-winning goal.
“Once we got the equalizer, we couldn’t find the back of the net. We made some mistakes tonight, and those mistakes played to their advantage,” Stewart said.
Bates finished with six saves.
