Lily Priest
After Monday’s 5-0 loss at Plainfield, Columbus North girls soccer coach David Young went back to the drawing board.
Not only did Young work with his offensive attacking players, he shook up the defense, inserting 5-foot-10 junior Paige Terry in goal. The moves resulted in a couple of goals, but the Bull Dogs gave up three first-half scores in a 3-2 defeat.
“The goals that we’ve been letting in have been flighted balls in the upper corners, balls over the keepers’ heads,” Young said. “Putting a taller athlete in goal would benefit that. We put her in goal (Wednesday) night in training session for the first time, and clearly, tonight was her first night in goal. She made a couple mistakes, and those mistakes resulted in goals. The girls rallied around her, and we’re excited to see where it goes.”
The Royals (4-2-2) got on the board in the fourth minute when Camryn Clark scored off an assist from Erin Reilly.
Rachel Fulp
A couple of freshmen hooked up to tie the game for North (1-4-2) in the 29th minute. Rachel Fulp was assisted by Evelyn Lopez.
Roncalli added two goals before the half, both on corner kicks. Clark scored her second goal on a header in the 36th minute, and Laylah Waugh headed in another one in the 38th minute.
After a scoreless first 31 minutes of the second half, North struck in the 72nd minute. Junior Lily Priest connected on a cross from Paige Mora.
The goals for Fulp and Priest were the first of their varsity careers.
“We’ve been working with our frontrunners individually this week after Monday’s game,” Young said. “We kind of went back to the basics, so to speak, and did some individual training with all of them. The shot that Rachel Fulp hit was a shot that were working on this week, and then Lily Priest just being an athlete sitting in front of the goal, finished that one.”
The Royals outshot the Bull Dogs 15-4, putting 10 shots on goal to three for North. Terry finished with seven saves.
The two teams could meet again in next month’s Whiteland Sectional.
“I think right now, the sectional is kind of wide open,” Young said. “You’re talking about four weeks from now, anything can happen, injuries. Everybody should be a different team in four weeks. We’ll be different. Roncalli will be different. But I love the matchup.”
