INDIANAPOLIS
Cameron Northern netted six goals, tying her own school record for goals in a game, leading Greenwood Christian to a 9-0 victory over Indianapolis Washington in the opening round of the Class A girls soccer sectional at Cardinal Ritter on Tuesday.
The Cougars had beaten the Continentals earlier in the season by the same score, but GCA head coach Joanna List said that didn’t affect the team’s effort.
“They came out and they played just as hard as they played during that game during the regular season and they came out and played their best,” she said.
The Cougars unleashed a barrage of shots upon the Continentals immediately. Eight shots in the first six minutes of the game didn’t lead to any goals, however.
“My girls realized that they need to pass around a little more and just find the right times to shoot,” List said.
It wasn’t until after these shots that the ball first entered Greenwood Christian territory.
After Washington’s only real chance of the half, a shot that was forced wide, the Cougars opened up the scoring. Northern put her first goal in the net with 26:29 remaining in the first half on a penalty kick.
An incredible save robbed Northern of another would-be goal soon after, but she bounced back, scoring twice in less than three minutes to put the Cougars up 3-0.
Both goals came off of passes from near midfield from Morgan Haynes and Alexis Mead. Taylor Ratlif assisted Northern’s fourth goal, which gave the Cougars a 4-0 lead at halftime.
The second half saw less shots, but still saw Greenwood Christian dominate possession.
Northern scored her fifth and sixth goals in the first half of the second period. The first came after she stole the ball from a cluster of Continentals, the goalkeeper included. The second saw Northern gather possession next to the goal and maneuver it to get in position to score.
Andrea Cottongim, Elizabeth Bigelow, and Alison Muck scored the last three GCA goals, while the Cougars maintained possession to kill the remainder of the clock.
Greenwood Christian takes on International in a semifinal match on Thursday.
“It’ll be a tough game,” List said. “We played International earlier in the season and we did lose to them. However, I feel like my girls have improved drastically from that game and if they come out and play like they did this game or any other game we’ve been playing recently, these girls can come out and win that game.”
