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GREENCASTLE GIRLS' SOCCER SECTIONAL: Five-star Tiger Cubs advance to final over Cougars
For the first 18 minutes of the third game of IHSAA Girls’ Soccer Class A Sectional No. 40, North Putnam did what it set out to do in frustrating Greencastle.
Three goals in seven minutes undid the Cougars’ solid start as the Tiger Cubs rolled from that point forward, landing a spot in the sectional final following a 5-0 win Thursday night.
“We knew North Putnam was going to come after us hard and I don’t know why the girls still seem shocked when teams do that to us,” Greencastle head coach Allison Dobbs said. “It’s sectional time. We knew they had some extra stuff in them and they came out hard.
“Fortunately, we got some goals in but we weren’t playing well when we got the first in. We tried to get their attention to clean some things up because if changes weren’t made in their play to take control of the game, it wouldn’t have been a 5-0 outcome.”
“We had a gameplan in mind but it didn’t play out exactly the way we wanted it to,” North Putnam head coach Jacob Bender said. “We don’t play a lot on turf and the play is so quick.
“There are a lot of what-ifs from tonight.”
Such was North Putnam’s start that it took 10 minutes before Greencastle had any meaningful shot as Penny Cummings had an effort saved by Kylie Jacobs in goal.
Cummings was sent on a break seven minutes later and while not getting a shot off, the Cougars struggled to clear the ball and Emily Hunsinger sent a shot from distance around the corner of the goal frame.
The opening goal came soon thereafter when Cummings was sent on goal again a minute later.
Jacobs raced out to the through ball but Cummings reached it first, knocking past Jacobs and tapping into an empty goal for a 1-0 lead.
Cummings turned provider just before the midway point of the half, moving toward the right before rolling the ball back into the path of Hunsinger, whose second shot from deep got the required dip to beat Jacobs and double the lead to 2-0.
North Putnam was struggling by this point and offered Greencastle a third goal five minutes later after Laurel Brown was brought down in the penalty area.
Jacobs saved Brown’s penalty but a retake was ordered by the official as a Cougar player was too quick to enter the penalty area and Brown’s second take went low and to the right to make it 3-0 Tiger Cubs.
Ali Dobbs came close on a few occasions to adding to the lead while Cummings spooned a shot over the goal as the hosts finished the half on top.
“I’m sure the first goal sparked the intensity in them,” Dobbs said about the team picking up its play as the half went on. “They’ve done a great job this season of, almost too good of a job, of being patient of getting goals and shots off in general.
“Once the first goal went in, it relaxed them a little bit. I also got on them about not being satisfied with one goal as they still needed to do some cleanup work.”
Dobbs forced the fourth goal went sent through six minutes after the restart, pulling a pair of Cougar defenders to her, resulting in an errant clearance beating Jacobs to make it 4-0.
Eva Battin finished the scoring 10 minutes into the half after being brough down in the box, knocking her penalty in off Jacobs’ right-hand post.
Greencastle soon began to sub liberally but North Putnam still struggled to escape its own half, getting its best chance when Jacey Huffman went on a lengthy run but no one was able to follow on her cross into the box.
Cummings had one more chance to score after slipping the defense for a one on one with Jacobs but the Cougar goalkeeper made a strong save down low to deny a sixth goal.
Greencastle advances to the sectional final to face Covington, who defeated South Vermillion 4-0 in the first match on Thursday night while North Putnam ends it season with a 7-1-8 record, finishing fourth in the WIC with a 5-3 mark.
“It was a better season than last year with two more wins and a higher finish in the conference,” Bender noted. “It was a great year for having to replace some instrumental players from the year before.
“It wasn’t enough in the long run but we have a long time to reset and go after it again next year.”
The Tiger Cubs played the Trojans to start the season, a 3-1 victory for the former, and Dobbs said the team needed to set the tone early.
“The girls just have to play strong as soon as the whistle blows,” Dobbs said. “They need to let (Covington) know they are sectional champions and need to play that way.”