After putting together some strong performances against quality girls soccer teams, Columbus North wasn’t quite able to play at that level again on Saturday afternoon.
The Bull Dogs gave up a pair of first half goals, and Evansville North added another one in the second half to claim a 3-0 victory at the BCSC Soccer Complex.
“They’re a good opponent,” Columbus North coach David Young said. “They just beat a good top-20 Evansville Reitz team on Thursday. They’re a quality team that’s competing with some top-level talent down in Evansville. We knew they were good and knew we had to bring our top game, and unfortunately, we did not do that today.”
Trailing 1-0, the Bull Dogs (5-6-3) allowed a goal by Ava Baumann with just 11 seconds left in the first half.
“We lost focus there late in the first half,” Young said. “We gave up the breakaway the last (11) seconds to go down 2-0, and against a quality opponent, down 2-0 in the second half, it’s hard to make up that ground.”
Evansville North, which scored its first goal in the 10th minute and its last goal in the 68th minute, outshot Columbus North 14-5. The Huskies put 11 shots on goal to three for the Bull Dogs.
Paige Terry recorded seven saves for Columbus North. Erica Kaufman played the final 12:48 in goal and added one save.
The Bull Dogs, who began the year without two seniors because of ACL injuries, have lost another starter in Lily Priest to a torn ACL. Starting defender Greta Schuetz also has missed the past couple of games, but could return for the Whiteland Sectional the first week of October.
“We were fortunate enough to get a lot of the younger kids in,” Young said. “We played 22 kids today, and were able to play a couple of those bubble (players) and even a couple of JV players.”
