BROWNSBURG -- The North Putnam High School boys' soccer team put up a good fight, but in the end Crawfordsville defeated them, 4-0 in the first round of the Brownsburg Sectional on Wednesday

Thursday, October 13, 2005

BROWNSBURG -- The North Putnam High School boys' soccer team put up a good fight, but in the end Crawfordsville defeated them, 4-0 in the first round of the Brownsburg Sectional on Wednesday.

"These players never gave up and for the whole season they have continued to improve themselves at all levels," NPHS coach David Moeller said.

The match was deadlocked for nearly the entire first half, until Crawfordsville scored its first goal with 3:29 left in the half, to take the lead 1-0.

In the second half, the Athenians scored three more goals on the Cougars.

Just 3:30 into the half, Michael Ruiz scored his second goal of the night for Crawfordsville. The Athenians scored again with 15:50 and Ruiz got a his hat trick for the final.

The Cougars lost to Crawfordsville just one week ago, but according to the Moeller they weren't at full strength.

"Several of our starters were out last week for multiple reasons and again (Wednesday) we still weren't healthy," he said.

The Cougars goalie Jeremy McKinley was out for game and the Cougars had to rely on a goalie, David Paul, who had not seen more than one half of action all season. Despite Paul only playing one half of soccer before Wednesday's game, Moeller was pleased with the way he played.

"For someone being put into a big game like this with only about one half of playing time through out the season, he did a good job," Moeller said.

Paul deflected seven of the 11 shots taken on him while the Cougars were only able to get three shots off on the Athenians' goal for the night.

"Everybody played well, especially Chris Gambill and Jeremy Roseman for the defense," Moeller said.

Even though they were down, 4-0, the Cougars never gave up. Within the last nine minutes of the match, the Cougars took several shots on the Athenians' goal. None of the shots made it into the net,but the Cougars continued to try until the buzzer sounded.

The Cougars finished the season with a record of 4-12 on the regular season 2-1 in the WCC.

At Brownsburg

Crawfordsville 1 3 -- 4

North Putnam 0 0 -- 0

First Half

C -- Ruiz 3:29

Second Half

C -- Ruiz 36:34

C -- Chavez 15:50

C -- Ruiz 9:12

The Cougars finished 4-12 on the season and 2-1 in the WCC.

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