Danika Hoehn
Columbus North had better effort and better performance than its opponent Batesville despite what the final scoreboard said Wednesday night at the BCSC Soccer Complex.
Class 3A No. 20 North gave itself plenty of opportunities, but couldn’t find the net in a 0-0 girls soccer draw in its regular season finale.
North outshot Batesville 23-4. North goalkeeper Danika Hoehn recorded three saves.
“I don’t feel like the result is indicative of what the game was played or how the game was played. We outshot them,” North coach David Young said. “It’s about opportunities. We didn’t finish ours. Luckily, they didn’t finish their four.”
The closest opportunity North (11-2-3) had at a goal occurred in the closing second of the first half when Evelin Lopez booted a long shot from well outside the goalbox. The ball was out of reach for Batesville (9-5-1) goalkeeper Macey Benjamin and went into the net. However, the official determined the half was over before the shot went through the net.
Under National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), which are followed by the IHSAA, a goal does not count, even if the ball is in flight towards the goal when the clock hits zero, the play is considered dead immediately. Unlike in professional soccer, there is no stoppage time to allow a play to finish.
Wednesday officially wraps up the regular season for North. It will enter postseason play and face off with sectional host Greenwood Tuesday in the opening round of the sectional.
“The thing that we need to look at now is come tournament time when teams decide to set in or they get pinned in, how do you score on them. You don’t want to go into to (penalty kicks). How do you get that win?” Young said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get that one (goal) today. We’ve got six days to figure out how we get that one.”
