Tiger Cubs down Cougars ahead of potential sectional rematch

The only two schools in the county with high school girls’ soccer programs went head-to-head on Thursday night.

North Putnam hosted Greencastle in a county match with two teams that share respect and friendship with each other.

The Tiger Cubs used two goals in the first half and relentless pressure to pick up the win 2-0.

Greencastle pressured offensively and defensively all night and that led to the victory that improved the Cubs to 13-3 on the season and 7-1 in the conference. North Putnam now has a 7-7-1 record and a 5-3 mark in the Western Indiana Conference.

“Playing North Putnam is always fun. They are a great school and their coaches are great. It is always fun to see the girls play against their friends,” Greencastle head coach Alison Dobbs said.

Greencastle opened the match as the aggressor. The Cubs kept the ball at their end of the pitch most of the half. After a few good looks at the goal, they were able to capitalize on an opportunity as Penny Cummings drove one into the net at the 29:37 mark to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

The offensive pressure for the Cubs continued. The were able to pick up a second goal by Ali Dobbs with 24:36 left in the first half and set the score at 2-0.

The Cougars were able to move the action closer to their goal in latter stages of the first half but could not get anything into the net.

“We had some opportunities. We didn’t take advantage of some of them. We had a couple in the first half that went wide and one that fell short. We just didn’t take some of the chances we had,” North Putnam head coach Jacob Bender said.

The Cubs and Cougars battled pretty evenly in the second half, which would end scoreless. A big reason was the play of North Putnam’s goalie Kylie Jacobs. The sophomore repeatedly made big saves to thwart the Greencastle offense.

“(Kylie) was on it, she felt good going into the game. She had three or four saves that were just top, top saves,” Bender said.

Dobbs echoed that sentiment as she stated, “I even gave her a shout out during the game. She had a save that she tipped over the net that was really pretty."

The game ended in Greencastle’s favor with the 2-0 score, but both coaches were pleased after the game.

“This is a huge step forward from playing them in the regular season last year. It just takes small adjustments to get it right. Holding them goalless in the second half is huge,” Bender said.

Greencastle was able to get what they wanted accomplished and the victory in the match.

“We were trying to mix the girls up tonight and have a lot of substitutions. With the sectionals coming up, we wanted to get some rest. We are working on understanding the strategy of the game and using the whole field,” Dobbs said.

Both teams open sectional play next week with the Cubs drawing Southmont on Tuesday and the Cougars getting the winner of that game on Thursday.