Avery Baker
Emotions ran high for the Columbus North girls soccer before its Conference Indiana matchup with Southport Wednesday night.
The Bull Dogs celebrated senior night before the match, and they sent their seniors home on a positive note in shutting out the Cardinals 5-0 at the BCSC Soccer Complex.
“It’s super emotional, and it’s super emotional now,” said North senior Anna Donica, who is one of four seniors on the team. “It’s really big because I remember being a freshman, and I remember watching the senior night like, ‘Wow! That’s so far away.’ Now that I am here, it went by so fast. It’s so sad to say that it’s my last year. It’s scary to think what I have ahead of me. It was really fun to play tonight. I had a great time, and the crowd was great. I felt a lot of love and support from my teammates. I’m really blessed to have such a good team and such good coaches.”
The Bull Dogs celebrated and honored seniors Donica, Chloe LaVelle, Charlotte Loheide and Izzy Lynn. LaVelle and Loheide were lost for the season due to ACL injuries. However, they were given the opportunity to be on the pitch to start the game with their fellow seniors and for the team. After the ball was kicked out of bounds a few seconds into the game, both were subbed out.
“It’s a small class. We knew that coming in four years ago it was a tight-knit group,” North coach David Young said. “It’s a shame that two of them had injuries at the beginning of the year, and we’re without both of them. Both of them were going to be key pieces in what we’re doing. The two that are healthy, they both rose to the occasion and had great games. It was probably their best games that they had all year.”
Anna Donica
The Bull Dogs (2-4-2, 1-1) put the pregame emotions aside and got to business early. In the fourth minute, Page Mora netted the first goal of the game for a 1-0 lead. North didn’t find the net again until the final few minutes of the first half when Avery Baker scored her first goal of the game off a Riley Sims assist to double the lead to 2-0 at the break.
Baker found her second goal for the brace in the 49th minute off an Amelia Corney assist to make it 3-0. Paige Terry started the game in goal for the Bull Dogs, but was subbed out in the middle of the second half to get some playing time up front. Terry made most of the opportunity by booting her shot from outside the box that landed in the net for a 4-0 lead in the 54th minute. Baker completed the hat trick with a goal in the 58th minute.
The Bull Dogs will look to carry the momentum into Saturday when they host Greenfield-Central.
“A win for our team as young as we are does a lot of good for us going into Saturday,” Young said. “We have to be playing well. After tonight, hopefully, that gives us some energy moving forward, some positive vibes and hopefully we can get a little win streak going.”
