Rachel Merritt
When Columbus North’s girls soccer regular-season finale against Batesville was called because of rain and lighting Tuesday night, North coach David Young was hoping it could be rescheduled this week before sectional play begins next week.
As it turned out, both teams were available Wednesday night, and so was the field at the BCSC Soccer Complex. So North took advantage of the opportunity to play again by posting a 1-0 victory against Class 2A No. 14 Batesville.
“Shoutout to Batesville for being willing to come back the next day,” Young said. “Luckily, we were able to have the turf. The (athletics directors) found officials late in the day today, and we were able to get the match in. For us, I know it’s important because we play (in the Whiteland Sectional) on Wednesday. We didn’t want to go a week-and-a-half without a game.”
The game’s lone goal came in the eighth minute when North junior defensive midfielder Rachel Merritt gathered the ball in the right side of the box and chipped one over the head of Batesville keeper Renee Lecher and into the top left corner of the net.
“It was very exciting,” Merritt said. “I got a lucky touch after calling the ball, and I was just able to get one off, and it curved into the goal. It was really exciting to do it for my team.”
Young went deep into his bench, playing a few girls who have seen mostly JV action this season.
“Depth is important for the postseason, especially whenever you play back-to-back nights Wednesday-Thursday (in the sectional), assuming you can get a win on Wednesday night,” Young said. “Tonight, we played about 20 of the girls, and they all played their hearts out. A couple of the JV girls had earned those minutes, and honestly, they’re no longer JV players. They’re a part of our varsity team, and they’ve earned their minutes and they looked good out there.”
North (6-6-3) outshot Batesville 19-6, putting 11 shots on goal to three for Batesville. North’s Paige Terry recorded two saves in the first half before moving to forward in the second half. Erica Kaufman posted one save early in the second half.
“It was very nice to come back out here and have a good game,” Merritt said. “I was pretty pumped. I was excited it got rescheduled, and were able to play.”
“I think we’re playing the best soccer we’ve been playing the whole season,” she added. “We’re playing very well as a team. We’re connecting passes. We’re all playing for each other. Our defense and our backline is doing what they need to do, our midfield is doing what they need to do and our forwards are getting goals. We’re playing very well as the end of the season.”
North, which plays host Whiteland in the first round of the sectional at around 8 p.m. Wednesday, was happy to gain back a little momentum after falling to Bloomington South and Evansville North last week.
“It’s probably the biggest thing that could have happened to us in this program with how young we are,” Young said. “At one moment, we had seven freshmen on the field, so going into the sectional with a win over a ranked opponent in 2A I think is going to hopefully push is mentally in the right direction and get us ready for next week.”
