For the first half of Monday night’s girls soccer showdown, Jenna Lang made Class 3A No. 10 Bloomington South look like it didn’t get the scouting report on her.
Lang happily made the Panthers pay with about every opportunity she was given by netting two first half goals and completing the hat trick in the second half to help the 3A No. 14 Bull Dogs clinch the outright Conference Indiana title with a 3-0 statement victory.
This is North’s first conference championship in six years.
“For them to do that this year together, and obviously, none of them have ever won Conference Indiana and against a very tough Bloomington South team, to come together and pitch a shutout, and for our defense to step up like they did tonight, everybody that played on the back line and (Kaylyn) Bates in goal, they all played fantastic,” North coach David Young said.
Lang’s first goal for the Bull Dogs (12-1, 5-0) came in the fifth minute when Caroline Hollenkamp delivered the ball forward to Lang, who juked Bloomington South (11-2-1, 3-1) goalkeeper Kristen Morgan, made the turn to the right and booted it into the left side of the net for a 1-0 lead.
The second goal came in the 27th minute when Lauryn Whitley delivered a pass forward to Lang. She dribbled the ball down the left side of the field and outrunan her defender in the process. After Lang had clearance of the defender, she kicked the ball hard at the top of the net, preventing very little to no time at all for Morgan to react , giving North a 2-0 lead.
The score remained that way going into the half.
In the second half, Lang completed the hat trick with a slice shot in the 67th minute.
“This is my first time experiencing this since I’ve been here,” Lang said of her team’s conference title. “My freshman season, we were one win away, and we all really wanted to win it this year, and stepping it up together and playing really well with each other and working hard for each other, it means a lot because it shows our hard work is paying off.”
Hollenkamp agreed.
“It’s definitely a good feeling (winning conference),” Hollenkamp said. “It’s something that our senior class has worked for the entire time we’ve been here. It’s nice knowing that all of our hard work this season is paying off.”
Lang now has 26 goals on the season, which ties her sister Addy for the fourth-most goals in a season in the history of the program.
“Growing up, I’d always go to my siblings’ games. My other sister (Hayden) played at East, and my brother (Hugh Hamill) played here, so I would always come to their games, and I would always watch them and be eager to play and get out on the field,” Lang said. “I liked growing up playing with Addy, and then training with her sometimes, I always wanted to break her record or show her that both of us could do it. It’s just cool to see both of us at this point.”
The Bull Dogs now have 12 straight wins after dropping the season opener to 3A No. 6 Center Grove.
“We’ve worked really hard to build those bonds and get us all working together,” Hollenkamp said.
