Makinzie Wood.jpg)
NEW MARKET — Crawfordsville’s girls’ soccer team got rivalry week off to a good start with a 3-2 win over Southmont.
The win moves the Athenians to 8-5 on the season, 4-0 in the Sagamore Conference and 1-0 in the race to win the county championship. There are also two County Chase points as a reward. The win is their fourth in a row and is their fourth-straight road win.
The Mounties fall to 5-8 overall and 3-3 in the league with the loss on senior night.
“We wanted to possess the ball a lot,” Athenians coach Alex Ehrlich said, “and we did that tonight. That led to lots of shots on goal.”
The ball was in the Crawfordsville attack zone for a huge amount of the first half, and a goodly part of the second, as they peppered South goal keeper Makinzie Wood with 22 shots on goal. Three got past the sophomore, and there were three point-blank swings that hit the upright or the crossbar.
“This is a really big match for us,” Ehrlich said. “We went to extra time each of the last two years and it’s just such a great rivalry. It’s high on our list of games we want to win.”
Both coaches were quick to note their opponent.
“Congratulations to Crawfordsville,” Mounties coach Angie Williams said. “It was a great match, and we just didn’t come out on top tonight. I’m really proud of how hard we played. We just didn’t control the midfield as much as we needed to. We passed well, but we have to pass a little better.”
“Southmont just took it to us the first 10 minutes,” Ehrlich noted. “We knew they would play really hard and they did.”
The Mounties might have been just a little tired, as they were playing their third match in four days, last Saturday, Monday and then Tuesday against the Athenians.
“No excuses,” Williams said. “I read somewhere that a midfielder can run something like seven miles in a match, so we had some players who got maybe 21 miles in the last four days, but again, no excuses.”
Crawfordsville got on the board first when Zari Freeze scored an unassisted goal. It is the senior’s fourth goal of the season, and it came at the 20:53 mark of the first half.
Caroline Novak got the second C’ville goal 10 minutes later when she kicked in a rebound. It is the 16th goal of the season for the junior, which ties her for first in the Sagamore Conference with Adi Melton of Tri-West.
The third Athenians goal came with 16:25 left in the second half, when sophomore Dayanna Mena-Fernandez scored what is officially an unassisted goal, but was started with a corner kick by Novak that bounded off the goal keeper’s fists.
“That is why this is the best team I’ve had here in Crawfordsville,” Ehrlich said. We distribute the ball so well. We had a senior, junior and sophomore score a goal This team has blended so well.”
The Mounties got a goal in each half, both by Kaelynn Sanburn.
The freshman got her first score with 1:18 left in the first, off of a pass from Jessica Hale. Her second goal came with 6:31 left in the match. She stole a ball, dribbled half the length of the pitch and found the back of the net. She now has nine goals on the season.
Crawfordsville goal keeper Litzy Huesca faced only nine shots on goal, as the defense in front of her kept the ball away most of the night.
“We’ve got so many hard-working players,” Ehrlich said of his squad. “Players like Laila Torres, who is just a workhorse on both offense and defense. She never stops, and that includes the offseason. She leads by example. We have players like Riley Gardner, who always gives 100 percent, and puts in lots of time in the offseason. Ally Johnson has played every spot but goalie. She had to jump into another role tonight on defense. I’m just so proud of all of them.”
That work has the Athenians unbeaten in conference play, with three big matches coming up.
They continue rivalry week today with a trip to North Montgomery, and next Monday it is over to Tri-West to take on the Bruins, who are also 4-0. They finish the conference season at home on Oct. 2 against Western Boone.
The Mounties honored senior players Hale, Jada Graves and Keaira Sanchez, along with manager Charlotte Garver, before the match. They will play South Vermillion on Saturday as part of a girls/boys doubleheader.
