If Saturday’s regular-season finale is any indication of how Thursday’s sectional semifinal will go, the Columbus North girls soccer team can book its ticket to the sectional final.
The Class 3A No. 16 Bull Dogs scored four times in the first 19 minutes and went on to beat Franklin 7-0. The two teams will meet again at around 7 p.m. Thursday in the Franklin Sectional.
“We were finishing today, so we had a little bit more consistency,” North coach Derek Stewart said. “I thought we put a good game together right before sectional. We look forward to playing these guys again on Thursday. Certainly, we’re not taking anything for granted.”
The Bull Dogs (10-4) got on the board in the 12th minute when Jenna Lang was taken down in the box and converted a penalty kick. Later in the same minute, Lang fed fellow freshman Claire Lyvers for the second goal.
Lang netted her second goal off an assist from Caroline Hollenkamp in the 15th minute. Lang then assisted on another Livers goal in the 19th minute, after which Stewart emptied his bench, and the lead remained 4-0 at halftime.
Lang completed the hat trick in the 43rd minute when she put a shot off the inside of the right post. With several players playing out of their normal positions, Baleigh Drum scored in the 69th minute, and Hollenkamp added the final goal off an assist from Rose Sardina in the 73rd minute.
“I thought we played as team,” Lang said. “Everyone has to put in their part to get the ball where it needs to go. I’ve just been executing at the end, but we’ve all contributed. I think we’ve been playing some of our best soccer, even though some of the results, we didn’t come out on top.”
North outshot the Grizzly Cubs (7-8-1) 34-1, putting 18 shots on goal. Kaylyn Bates, who played the first 73 minutes in goal for the Bull Dogs, stopped Franklin’s only shot, which came when North was temporarily playing one player short.
Following her goal, Hollenkamp replaced Bates for the final seven minutes in the net. Hollenkamp, a starting center midfielder, also played forward and on defense in the contest.
“We played a lot of different players today,” Stewart said. “We had a couple players missing, so it’s going to be a little different when we play Thursday perhaps. But overall, everybody got on the pitch, everybody contributed and it was a very good team effort.”
