North Montgomery pushed its Sagamore Conference record to 3-3 and overall record to 6-4 with a 2-1 win at Crawfordsville.
Teegan Bacon scored two first half goals to spark a Charger offense that struggled to find much of a rhythm.
“Our intensity level was not where it needed to be today,” North Montgomery coach Julie Hodges said. “I felt like we had control of the game the whole time, and had control of possession.
“It’s a very good team, and I don’t think there’s any selfishness on anybody’s part and everybody’s happy for everyone, but I also think it’s in the back of their mind that ‘oh it’s okay, if this doesn’t go well, we have Teegan.’ So that’s definitely a huge strength for us, and it’s come through time and time again, but at the same time we are trying to get more people involved, so we can be more of dual or triple threat and pull some defenders away from Teegan and spread some things out.”
After Bacon scored just nine minutes into the game, Crawfordsville answered with a Riley Gardner goal assisted by Jayda Roach in the 33rd minute. Bacon’s 25th goal of the season made it 2-1 just before half.
“It took a minute to get things figured out, and there was a point in the game where the intensity was there and we wanted it more than they did,” Crawfordsville coach Alex Ehrlich said. “It’s just one of those things where we have to be able to maintain that. I am thrilled that we were able to put one in the back of the net.”
North Montgomery squared up 18 shots, while Crawfordsville had 10 shots.
Crawfordsville celebrated seniors Hannia Hernandez, Kellie Xotla, Marilyn Salas Olvera, Selena Starks, Eliana Salas Olvera, and Victoria Abston.
“I think it was kind of jarring for them,” Ehrlich, who is a first-year coach said. “Even though they had me before, it was different for them to have me as a head coach, because it’s a different coaching method. I put a lot of emphasis on being a better a better human and how does the pitch translate to real life, and explaining things in both soccer and life.”
The county win for North Montgomery comes after a shootout loss to Southmont. They’ll finish the SAC schedule next week against Lebanon.
“We’ve got Lebanon next week,” Hodges said. “If we can knock off Lebanon that will put us above .500 in the conference, which is always a goal.”
