For the Daily Journal

COLUMBUS

Eighteen seconds.

That was all it took that stood between fourth-ranked Columbus North girls soccer and a season-opening victory, but No. 14 Center Grove got the tying goal from Emily Karr with 18 seconds left for a 2-2 draw at the new BCSC Soccer Complex Monday night.

North put up two goals in the first half and Center Grove fought back in the second half with two goals of its own.

“You always have to worry about Jenna Lang. She’s arguably one of the best players in the state, and she’s got talent still around her. It was frustrating tactically how to neutralize her and still do your thing tactically,” Center Grove coach Mike Bishop said. “It wasn’t working in the first half. We came out and made some adjustments in the second half, and we were able to apply a lot more pressure around the edges and it kept them on their back foot more.”

After a couple of great opportunities to get on the scoreboard early, the Bull Dogs broke through in the 25th minute when Emily Ellis’ shot went right above the goalkeeper’s hands and into the net for a 1-0 lead. Then, in the 28th minute, Lang got into the scoring column when her shot sailed past the defense, hit the post and deflected back into the goal.

The Trojans turned up the intensity and struck early in the second half. In the 43rd minute, Karr’s shot was saved by North goalkeeper Mallory Gilley, but Karr got her own rebound and put it away to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Bull Dogs halted the Trojans’ comeback bid over the final 37 minutes until Karr scored her second goal in the closing seconds.

“They fought for 80 minutes, which is a lot of fun to watch,” Bishop said. “I’m glad it was a different second half, because I couldn’t watch another half like the first one … but it was a lot of fun against a great team. We’ll go home with a 2-2 tie.”

After Monday night’s battle, there’s little doubt these two teams will have to go through each other again if they want to win the sectional title.

“We’ll likely see them again in the sectional championship or at some point in the sectional,” Bishop said. “We’ll just see what the draw does, and hopefully we can play a bit before we meet again. I applaud my girls; they played well.”