The Class 3A No. 11 Columbus North girls soccer team didn’t have much trouble despite giving up an late first half goal to Terre Haute North to come away with a 7-1 Conference Indiana victory Saturday afternoon at Richard Wigh Soccer Complex.
The Bull Dogs are 10-1 and unbeaten at 4-0 in conference play heading into Monday night’s matchup at 3A No. 7 Bloomington South.
With a big game coming up Monday night, this could have been an easy game to overlook, but since the Patriots were a conference foe, the Bull Dogs needed this win if they wanted to secure the title on Monday.
“Terre Haute North is a pretty good team. They have a record of 9-2, so they weren’t a team to overlook, and we had to play them straight up as we do with every team,” North sophomore Lauren Barker said.
The Bull Dogs’ top player Jenna Lang added a haul, which is four goals in a game, to bring her total to 27 this season. The school record is from Kayleigh Steigerwalt with 39 during the 2010 season.
Columbus North (10-1, 4-0) struck in the seventh minute when Lang shot from the center of the box, and the goalkeeper made the tip save, but Alexa McKinley was at the right place at the right time to finish off the play with the tap in goal from the near post on the right side of the box.
The Bull Dogs extended the lead in the 17th minute when Lang’s shot took a deflection off the keeper, but Barker was there to tap the ball into the net for a 2-0 lead. Two minutes later, Lang finally got on the board with her 24th goal of the season when she dribbled around a couple of defenders on the left side of the box and delivered a laser at the top right corner of the far post to extend the lead to 3-0.
Right before the end of the first half, Columbus North made its only miscue of the game. The Patriots pushed the ball forward to Ellie Price, who took a few dribbles down the right side of the field. She made a cross to Caroline Gauer in the middle of the box, and her shot just snuck inside the far post out of the reach of Bull Dog keeper Mallory Gilley with 14 seconds left to cut it to a 3-1 deficit at the break.
In the 50th minute, Columbus North got the goal that they surrendered right back when Lang took a turn down the right side of the box, and her shot when right into the net to increase the lead to 4-1. She then she completed the hat trick with a goal a couple minutes later off a indirect kick from Lauryn Whitley to increase the lead to 5-1.
In the 63rd minute, Barker netted her second goal of the game off a Laney Moore assist. Lang completed the haul in the 73rd minute off a McKinley assist.
“We missed some shots, but we always keep battling, we keep playing with each other,” Barker said. “As a whole, we had some great balls from players off the wings and in the middle, so I think we really play well together, and I think we’re really good at encouraging our teammates no matter what, so that’s really positive going forward.”
The Bull Dogs outshot the Patriots 20-4. Gilley recorded three saves.
Columbus North now turns its focus to the Panthers Monday in a winner-take-all match for the conference title.
“I think that ultimately, we just need to work together as a team on Monday to secure another conference title for us,” Lang said. “I think that’ll be a big rivalry game where we need to show our best and work together like we have been.”
