GIRLS' PREP SOCCER: Central blanks Lady Bulldogs 09/04)

By GREG CREWS gcrews@thenewsenterprise.com CECILIA — Last season, the Central Hardin Lady Bruins felt like they gave one away when they tied John Hardin, 2-2. This time around, they refused to give anything away, shutting out the Lady Bulldogs en route to a 2-0 victory. “This is a game we really needed to win,” Central Hardin coach Hal Bender said. “We want the No. 2 seed (in the 10th District Tournament). We want to get that bye. Last season we had to play three games and we cracked in the district final, so we’re really going for the No. 2 or No. 1 seed.” With a rocket into the back of the net, senior midfielder Katie Meredith scored the go-ahead goal with 15 minutes remaining in the game and junior midfielder Jamie Donahue tapped in one more with six seconds left to take away any thought of a tie. “Elena (Hitch, a senior defender) had a really good cross and they (John Hardin) just kind of watched it go over and didn’t really follow it in, and I was the only one there so I put it in,” Meredith said. “I was pretty excited (to get the goal) because there were some moments in the first half where we didn’t play very good and we didn’t know what the outcome of the game would be. I think it just boosted the team and made us play harder.” Coming out of the gate, it was the Lady Bulldogs who took control of the action. Within the first 12 minutes of the match, John Hardin (2-1, 1-0 district) had taken two shots on goal, while Central Hardin (3-4, 1-1) had none. In the 13th minute, the Lady Bruins narrowly avoided an early deficit when John Hardin sophomore forward Hanna Alcock headed a corner kick off the right goal post. “We played very well. I thought we possessed the ball very well,” John Hardin coach Brittany Carter said. “I think we caught them off guard at the beginning of the game, but in the second half they put us back on our heels.” The momentum seemed to swing towards the end of the first half as the Lady Bruins took two shots on goal in the final 13 minutes to tie up the count before halftime. And what momentum the Lady Bruins brought into halftime, seemed to have grown twofold by the time they retook the field. “Everyone knew and it was said that we needed to pick it up,” Meredith said. “Once we knew they weren’t going to give up, we couldn’t either.” Central Hardin took two shots on goal in the first five minutes of the second half before Hitch took a free kick from near midfield and lofted it Meredith, who punched it in for the 1-0 lead. The next three shots on goal also belonged to the Lady Bruins, before John Hardin came inches away from tying the game with 3:50 remaining. Amid a thick crowd in front of the goal following a corner kick, John Hardin senior forward Jessica Howard took a shot that hit the top crossbar. Freshman midfielder Catherine Greenwell nearly scored with a header on the rebound, but Central Hardin sophomore goalkeeper Ainsley Moreman lunged into the air to grab her third and final save of the game. John Hardin sophomore goalkeeper Jerrica Scovel finished with seven saves. After the Lady Bruins cleared the ball from in front of their net with 35 seconds remaining, Donahue finished off the breakaway as she made a quick fake left and tapped the ball into the right side of the net with 6.9 seconds remaining. “The girls understood at halftime the key to the game was at midfield. In the first half we were too quick to get the ball off our foot. What we needed to do was go one-on-one a little more and try to give ourselves some chances,” Bender said. “Once we all got on the same page, we moved the ball well. We just neede to establish that rhythm.” The junior varsity game ended in a 1-1 tie. UP NEXT: Central Hardin plays at Marion County at 7 p.m. tonight. John Hardin plays at 10th District rival Elizabethtown at 10 a.m. Saturday. Greg Crews can be reached at 505-1754