DANVILLE — There is seldom a happy end to a high school sports season.
North Montgomery’s girls soccer team saw a topsy-turvy campaign end with a 5-1 loss to Tri-West in the first round of the Class 2A sectionals.
The loss to their Sagamore Conference foe ends the Chargers season at 8-8. The Bruins, ranked No.16 in the polls, move to 14-3 and advance to the sectional semifinals.
“We got off to a great start. We had a great game plan,” said North coach Julie Hodges, leftover tears still under her eyes. “We were so focused. We had pressure on them and controlled the game for the first 5-10 minutes.”
That start included the first goal of the match, when Sidney Campbell, on a free kick from about 40 yards out, arched a shot over the reach of Bruins goal keeper Danica James.
The goal, coming less than three minutes into the match, put the Chargers on top quickly. It was Campbell’s 18th goal of the season.
The Bruins, however, regrouped and evened the score less than four minutes later.
Nine minutes after that, Kenna Kirby scored the first of her three goals, giving the Bruins a lead they would never relinquish.
“Tri-West is a very talented team,” Hodges said. “They are so strong tactically. They are good passers and were able to get around the edge a few times.”
With the Chargers playing their first game of the season on field turf, the Bruins quickness was amplified.
“The ball got to spots a little quicker,” Hodges noted. “It rolled a little too fast a few times. We needed to intercept a couple more passes, and that was tougher on the turf.”
Tri-West also stayed on the offensive for a large part of the night, keeping the game in North’s defensive end and making it doubly hard to generate any offense.
The Chargers were only able to get five shots on goal, while North goal keeper Sydnee Turner faced 14 shots.
The Bruins got the three goals from Kirby, plus one each from Kylie Hardin and Kate Hardin.
The loss ends the high school soccer careers for five North senior players and a student manager.
Campbell, along with Nina Gable, Haley and Jillian Sommer, Kelsey Anderson and manager Averie Jones, finish as the winningest class in Chargers soccer history with 35 wins, winning 9-9-9-8 games in each of their four years.
“These seniors,” Hodges said with new tears coming. “Their leadership in a non-pandemic season would have been outstanding, but with all that happened this year, they took it to another, even higher level.”
“Every individual is special,” she continued, “and every senior class is special, but to have a group come together for four years like they have will make them one of the all-time great groups. Their character is outstanding. They are extremely good people. Their leadership led to their success and they will always be a special group.”
Even with this group of seniors leaving and the success they had, the coach had a peek into the future.
“We have nine juniors coming back,” Hodges said, “and there are five more off the bench. The seniors led by example, but the underclass players made us a total team. They took on new formations, new positions, and sacrificed for the team. We will build on them.”
The Bruins will play in the first semifinal match Thursday at Danville. The Crawfordsville and Danville match will follow, with the championship match scheduled for Saturday.
