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North Putnam wins entertaining match over Brown County
BAINBRIDGE – Following a pair of tough losses, a shootout loss at Owen Valley in WIC play and a 1-0 loss at A No. 20 Cascade, North Putnam looked to get back on track in conference play with Brown County visiting Saturday afternoon.
Back-and-forth action began from the opening whistle as the lead changed hands three times and a late goal from the Eagles brought about some nervy moments but the Cougars ultimately prevailed 4-3.
“I feel good about this one,” North Putnam head coach Jacob Bender said. “The girls collected themselves back up, settled back down as a team and never had to worry even if we went down.
“We just kept building on top of what we were doing.”
Brown County started on the front foot, pinning North Putnam into its own half, eventually being rewarded for its aggressive start as the Cougars struggled to clear the ball out of their box.
Ava Stogsdill took advantage of a short clearance, slipping past the hosts’ defensive line and poking a shot past Kylie Jacobs in goal for a 1-0 lead within four minutes.
North Putnam slowly grew into the game but Stogsdill was still causing problems with one break seeing a cross from the sophomore sliding through the box with two players just unable to get on the end of it.
The Cougars soon flipped the score as the visitors ran into a similar problem of not clearing the ball from their own box.
Kassidy Hackleman forced a low save from Anna Tipton in goal but her clearance was eventually stolen away by Jacy Huffman, who rounded one defender before firing home to tie the match at 1-1.
Two minutes later another short goal kick was punished by Hackleman, stealing the ball from a defender before rifling a shot from 20 yards out into the top left corner to make it 2-1.
Brown County eventually weathered the Cougar pressure and tied the match 12 minutes from halftime as River Ford curled home a free kick from just outside the hosts’ 18-yard box, tying the match again at 2-2.
Addison Everman broke from an Eagle corner but ran out of steam and shot tamely at Tipton before a Hackleman free kick was deflected by the defense wide of goal just before halftime.
After the break, the once even match soon tilted heavily towards the hosts, who took the lead nine minutes into the second half.
A ball over the top was controlled by Graci Hollis and sent to Hackleman down the right, the latter emulating her first goal with a looping shot that went into the far side netting to give the home side a 3-2 lead.
“We had a change in mentality,” Bender said about the better start to the second half. “We came out early and we weren’t setup or prepared for what (Brown County) had.
“We came out after the break, fixed it and the girls were back into the game.”
Hollis and Kaylynn Scott both had good looks go over the bar as the half moved on before North Putnam looked to have sealed the deal with seven minutes to play.
A near repeat of the third goal saw Hollis set Hackleman down the right and the sophomore netted her hat trick with a third looping goal into the far netting to make it 4-2.
Stogsdill gave Brown County hope late after being allowed to run at goal for the first time in the second half, hitting a shot off Jacobs’ left hand post that trickled over to make it 4-3 but the Eagles wouldn’t get another look at goal as the Cougars ran their record to 2-2 for the season and 2-1 in WIC play.
“It was about closing down areas we left people open in,” Bender said about keeping Brown County in check for most of the second half. “We talked about areas of the field we were leaving open and made sure to address those.
“Once they did, everything else fell into place.”