During Saturday’s girls soccer match against Seymour, North coach David Young experimented with a different formation.
The result … so far, so good.
The Class 3A No. 14 Bull Dogs offensive attack didn’t miss a beat, producing three goals in the first half and going on to post a 4-1 victory at Richard Wigh Soccer Complex.
“I think everyone really worked together. I think we still have some missing pieces we can work on, but I think all in all our communication was a lot better than it has been in the past,” said North junior Jenna Lang, who had two of the goals. “Our runs by our front-runners were a lot better for the situation we needed them to be in, and even though there was some offside calls, we still made the right run, and that’s what we’ve been working on, so it shows that from our practices that it’s starting to show in our games.”
Playing a 4-3-3 format most of last season, Young thinks the maturity of the team feels solid enough that he can switch it up from game to game.
Young started the game with the team in a 3-5-2 alignnment, then changed it up to a 4-3-3 in the second half.
“There’s a couple other formations than those two that we have decided that we will play this season, and just the maturity level of our team, we’re able to do that like that,” Young said. “If we need to change things up, we can. Last year, I didn’t feel like we were there yet, and this year, I think we are, and to be able to give a team a different look in the second half I think was big.”
In the 12th minute, North (2-1) got the ball rolling when Alexa McKinley made a touch pass to Lauren Barker, who netted the goal for a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, the Owls got on the board when Haley Westfall’s shot equalized the game at 1-1.
Right before the first half ended, the Bull Dogs picked up two quick goals. The first one came from Lang, who made a quick turn following a pass from Lauryn Whitley, and Lang sent the laser shot right at the back of the net for the 2-1 lead in the 36th minute. Two minutes later, McKinley dribbled the ball upfield, made a quick turn and found herself open for a shot and goal to make it a 3-1 lead at the half.
“We were trying a new formation, so I think we ran it pretty well for the first time that we were doing it,” McKinley said. “We had a lot of good runs from the top two, and as far as execution, it was pretty good.”
In the second half, Lang added her second goal of the game in the 51st minute off an assist from Barker.
North has one final tuneup on Monday against Franklin before they play against crosstown rival Columbus East on Wednesday.
“We still have some work to do, but I felt like we got a lot of looks from our front runners in this game, where we necessarily didn’t have that the first two games,” Young said. “Once we get our frontrunners going, I think we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”
