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Lady Cougars win, move to 4-1
ROACHDALE-- Thursday night's girls' soccer contest between the North Putnam Cougars and North Montgomery Chargers was a defensive battle. The Cougars edged past the Chargers, 1-0.
Cougar sophomore Christa McRoy scored the only goal of the game with 30:47 left in the competition. She took advantage of the one break away her team was awarded and put it past junior goalie Emily Jensen of the Chargers for a goal.
"We didn't check back to the ball as much as I wanted to," Cougars' coach Chase Hiland said. I told Kaelynn (Abner) at that time that I wanted her to check back to receive the ball. We were too separated between midfield and forward. I told her she needed to check back to the ball and she did and found Christa. Christa made some good touches and beat her (North Montgomery). She had a good shot into the side netting. It was unstoppable. I was happy. It was a relief, you know, going so long without a goal."
Both teams kept each other from getting openings and keeping runs off the sidelines. As a result there were only 10 total shots for the game and only six were on goal.
"They were really physical for some of us at times," Hiland said. "We're more of a smaller group. We're more skilled with our feet, but they're athletic, strong, physical on the ball and they did a good job with their physicality. They're well organized. You have to give their coaching staff a hand. "
With under 15 minutes left to go sophomore Kinsey Humphreys secured a loose ball for the chargers and forced the ball and herself past the last Cougar defender. She only had to get the ball past junior goalie Claire Sims, but Sims looked professional and stopped Humphrey's attempt. This was the only real threat the Cougars faced.
"This is Claire's third year starting at goal keeper," Hiland said. "So I think she's used to those situations. She's seen it before, she makes good decisions and she knows how to block shots. I think she can handle it because she's been there before and she knows what she's doing."
Sims only had three saves.
Neither the Chargers nor the Cougars could sustain control of the ball until late in the game when the Cougars (4-1) did just that. They went the whole game shooting only three times and they shot four times in the last 20 minutes. McRoy took four of the seven total shots for the Cougars.
"We changed some formation in the second half," Hiland said. "We tried to get our playmakers a little more on the ball so that they could connect with each other. They did do a better job connecting in the latter half. "
The Cougars will travel to Edgewood Saturday for a contest that should be similar to what they seen Thursday, according to Hiland.
"Edgewood is a decent team,"Hiland said. "They are comparable to Northmont. They are a good team too. It's going to be a good battle. I feel it's going to be a one, two goal type of thing. It's not going to be a blowout."
At North Putnam
N. Montgomery 0 0--0
N. Putnam 0 1--1
Saves: Jensen (NM) 2, Sims (NP) 3.
Scoring
First Half
NONE
Second Half
30:47: McRoy (NP) 1-0 NP