The Batesville Bulldogs traveled to Liberty, Indiana to take on the Union County Patriots in the opening game of the 2015 season and won 7-3.
Despite losing several key players to graduation and starting many new and young players the Bulldogs started the match with high intensity.
Batesville instantly put the Patriot defense under constant pressure and took the early lead when Nathan Batta received the ball on the left side of the field and was able to dribble passed the defense and put his shot under the Patriot keeper. “Nathan made an excellent overlapping run on the left side and took a couple nice touches to get behind the Union County defense.” Five minutes later Batesville doubled their lead when Henry Lipinski received a pass on the left side and cut into goal. He sent his shot low and hard to the near post. The ball glanced off the post and in to make the score 2-0. Just 2 minutes later Batesville scored a third goal when Austin Meyer redirected a Christian Wolfe shot. Wolfe had settled a deflected pass and hit a hard shot toward goal. Meyer got his head on the ball to deflect the shot into the net to give Batesville a comfortable 3 goal lead. After that goal it looked like the Bulldogs would run away with the game but then the flood gates opened for both teams as 7 goals were scored over the next 12 minutes. Just 30 seconds after the Meyer goal Union County got one back after a Bulldog defensive mistake. Less than 2 minutes later the Bulldogs answered with a fourth goal when Sam Dunbar notched his first goal of the match. Dunbar dribbling out of the midfield played a give and go pass with Austin Meyer. Meyer sent the ball through the Patriot defense and into the running Dunbar who gathered the ball and finished with a nice low shot into goal.
“The give and go with Dunbar and Meyer was textbook. I was extremely pleased with the quick passing and excellent runs off the ball in the early parts of the first half.” Two minutes later the Patriots cut the Bulldog lead in half when a long, low shot got passed the Batesville keepers hands to make the score 4-2. The Patriots then felt a shift in the moment and began to put pressure on the Bulldog defense. Batesville appear a bit rattled and committed a foul just outside the 18’ box. The Patriot player hit a long shot up and over the Batesville wall and into the goal to make the score 4-3. Batesville regained its composure and scored two more goals over the next five minutes (Meyer and Batta each getting their second of the game) to take the lead up to 3 with the score at the half 6-3.
The second half turned into a more defensive battle and the Bulldogs were able to add a seventh goal by Alex Todd to make the final score 7-3 in favor of Batesville. The Bulldogs finished the night with 7 goals on 36 shots and 5 corner kicks to Union Counties 3 goals on 8 shots and 1 corner. “Union County put up a good fight and never quit. I think they have improved a lot since last year and put us under pressure midway through the first half. Our inexperience showed defensively in the first half as we are still understanding and learning our roles and responsibilities. I also think there was a bit of nerves out there as this was the first Varsity start for a lot of our players.
“Overall, we played well much of the match but still need to improve in technically and tactically. Offensively, we did well early on with our possession and quick passing inside and out but we got away from that later in the game and became too committed to the dribble and playing vertically. I think this team will grow and improved dramatically from game to game and I am excited about the potential we have this season.” Bulldogs Coach Chris Fox.