The Batesville Lady Bulldogs and the Columbus North Lady Bulldogs squared off on the soccer pitch Tuesday evening winning 3-2. Midway through the first half, it was Batesville who would strike first. Liz Heidlage collected the ball deep in Batesville territory and found Lauren Gutzwiller on the left wing. Gutzwiller played a nice ball up to Georgia Gratz as she pulled the center defender forward giving room for a through ball to Hailey Mohr who tucked her shot into the far post. Coach Laker commented on the goal saying, “this was one of our best goals all season. It was great movement off the ball and a great buildup from the back.”
9 minutes later, Columbus North would find the equalizer. After a Batesville foul 30 yards out, #19 Lang stepped up and ripped a bouncing shot to the far post that skated just past the outreached hands of Ellie Waechter. Both teams went into the half tied 1-1 and Columbus North had the slight edge in shots 4-3.
In the second half, Columbus North went up 2-1 just 5 minutes into the half. It was another set piece goal. This time, it was a corner kick to the back post and a Columbus North player got a knee on it and found the back of the bet. Batesville played down for the next 20 minutes as both teams battled back and forth.
With 17 minutes to play, Carlie Werner and Gratz were trying to find space through the Columbus North back line. Gratz then laid the ball off to Mohr who struck the shot in stride and the ball snuck just inside the near post for her 2nd score of the game. With the score even, both teams wanted the win even more. Batesville kept riding the momentum and had several chances to go up 3-2.
Werner was taken down inside the right edge of the box and was awarded a penalty kick. She stepped up and drove a hard low shot that took an unlucky bounce off the post. Batesville did not give up. With 9 minutes to play, Mohr would finish off her hat trick. This time it was an unassisted goal as she collected a loose ball 30 yards out and let a shot fly. The ball carried with the wind and the goalkeeper could not get her hands on the high arching shot.
The Batesville defense stayed solid the rest of the match to hold the 3-2 advantage. Heidlage, Abbey Prickel, Lily Meyer, and Olive Cerniglia did a great job battling the quickness from Columbus North all game long. Despite the two set piece goals, the defense shut down the Columbus North offense within the run of play.
Batesville moved up to #2 in the ISCA polls this week in class 2A. They improved to 11-1 on the season and will host Heritage Christian on Thursday night. Batesville will honor their 7 seniors for senior night. It is also youth soccer night and any youth soccer player wearing their jersey will receive free admission and will be recognized at halftime of the varsity contest.