North Putnam, Southmont battles to draw

Friday, August 31, 2012
Jake Holtz

ROACHDALE -- North Putnam and Southmont's boys' soccer teams clashed Thursday night in an entertaining but ultimately scoreless 0-0 draw.

The action near the goals was slightly subdued in the first half though. Cougar goalkeeper Bailey Allen did well to tip over an early Mountie effort.

Southmont thought they had taken the lead a quarter of an hour into the match but Devin Miller's strike was ruled out for offside.

Much of the first half saw the ball contested in the middle of the park, though both squads had a couple of decent late looks in the half.

Southmont's Joey Remender had a shot saved in the closing minutes by Allen, while at the other end Brady Woods launched a shot wide of the target.

The action picked up in the second half as North Putnam's Zach Hunter had a header cleared off the line and Woods was denied by Mountie backstop Daniel McCormick.

Bennett Hazelgrove had a header go wide for the hosts, while Southmont's Reid Fouty watches a shot go over the top of Allen but just wide of the net.

McCormick had to be at his best to parry away a shot by Zach Hunter midway through the second half in one of the best opportunities for either side to break the deadlock.

Two minutes later Mountie forward Josh Borden had a chance to strike at an open net but instead hit his shot into Allen before the North Putnam defense cleared their lines.

As the clock ticked down, Southmont's Cody Thomas slipped in Wayne Highfield who hit a shot well over the ball.

North Putnam then received the best chance of the match to find a winner when the Mounties were penalized for handball in the box.

Woods' penalty, however, was skied over the bar and play continued for another minute and 30 seconds.

That gave Southmont one last chance to score, though Reid Fouty had to watch in agony as his last gasp shot narrowly went wide of Allen's post.

North Putnam head coach David Moeller said that the only thing missing from his squad's performance was a goal.

"I thought we played for the entire game. I thought we outplayed Southmont for long stretches at a time and we were just unlucky not to score," Moeller said.

"We had more chances. I thought even before the penalty we should have had a goal but we couldn't find a way to get it into the back of the net."

Moeller said some minor tweaks improved the Cougars' performance in the second half.

"We switched Jacob Hendershot and Brady Woods around from midfield to sweeper. Hendershot has played there for most of his career so he was comfortable back there," Moeller said.

"We told Brady to keep his head up. It's tough to take a draw with a penalty miss but I told him it wasn't his fault and that we should have had a goal before then," Moeller added on Woods' penalty miss.

Up next for North Putnam is Tri-West, whom Moeller said the Cougars would need a great team effort to beat.

"They're a very talented squad all around and we've struggled against them in the past. We've got to be focused defensively Tuesday," Moeller said.

"We didn't have any mental mistakes in today's game. We kept our focus well in this game, as we have all year, and we'll need to do so again next week."

At North Putnam

Southmont -- 0

North Putnam -- 0

Next match: North Putnam hosts Tri-West next Tuesday.