KEVIN HARRIS - The Evening News & The Tribune
10/21/2008
When the Floyd Central girls’ soccer team plays in Wednesday’s Columbus North Regional, it will portray the same role it did in last week’s Jeffersonville Sectional — the underdog.
The Highlanders (12-6-2) will face the heavily favored Bull Dogs in the one-game regional at 7 p.m. at the Richard Wigh Soccer Center in Columbus. The winner advances to Saturday’s Evansville Harrison Semistate.
North enters Wednesday’s game with a 17-1-2 record and finished 20th in the final state coaches’ poll. The Bull Dogs won their own sectional last Saturday 2-0 over cross-town rival Columbus East, which Floyd tied this season in Hoosier Hills Conference play.
Floyd head coach Lewie Stevens says the Highlanders must find a way to limit North’s scoring chances to have a shot at their first regional title since 2000.
“There are several things we want to achieve in stopping them. But they are such a complete package that we will focus on winning midfield and limiting their striking opportunities,” Stevens said. “We want to focus on what we do to be successful and that includes one- and two-touch passing, movement without the ball and good team play. We have been achieving all of those lately, so we will try to continue our run.”
North has a talented group of freshmen who all played critical roles in Saturday’s sectional final. One of those rookies, Kayleigh Steigerwalt, scored the Bull Dogs’ first goal against East.
Steigerwalt leads North in goals this season with 16, while fellow freshman Vanessa Staublin and junior Emily Wheeler each rank second on the team with six.
This is not the first time the Highlanders have played in the regional. The seven seniors on Floyd’s roster and most of the junior class will be making their third straight regional appearance. Leading this group of upperclassmen are seniors Nikki Korte, April Vanderplow, Kelsey Traughber and Mallory Sturgeon.
Stevens thinks that regional experience should aid the Highlanders on Wednesday.
“It will definitely help. We have the attitude that we are going up there not to compete but to win,” Stevens said. “Our seniors are not awed by the prospect of playing North. We are respectful of their success, but feel we can stay with them despite the fact that we are on their home turf.”
Despite winning the Jeff Sectional the past two years, the Highlanders were not even considered a sectional-title contender last week, as most of the attention went to co-favorites New Albany and Providence.
But Floyd outscored its three sectional opponents 15-0 to win its third sectional in a row. That included a 3-0 victory over New Albany in last Friday’s sectional final. For the sectional, Korte kicked in four goals and Traughber scored three.
“We used that as a motivator for the kids,” Stevens said about being overlooked. “We didn’t want to lose to (New Albany and Providence) in the regular season. But after we did, the coaches thought that we were in a good position for the sectional if we could start playing well. We did start playing better, so it may have been a blessing in disguise.”
Stevens thought the difference in his team’s sectional victory over New Albany was that his team did a good job of playing the game at its own tempo.
“Our ability to dictate the pace of play was different than our first game with New Albany. In that game, they dictated it (against) us. In the sectional, we were able to get control early,” Stevens said. “Our passing has really come along so that allows us to maintain possession and help frustrate what our opponents do.”
The Highlanders have battled injuries all season as they currently have two key players out with anterior cruciate ligament injuries. But despite the ailments, they have found a way to succeed and hope to continue to do that against Columbus North.
“We have two starters out with ACL injuries, another questionable for the regional game and a myriad of ticky-tack injuries,” Stevens said. “But at this time of the year, everybody has something and we have gotten kind of used to it, so we will persevere.”
COLUMBUS NORTH REGIONAL
• DATE: Wednesday
• TIME: 7 p.m.
• PLACE: Richard Wigh Soccer Center, Columbus
• TEAMS: Floyd Central (12-6-2) vs. Columbus North (17-1-2)
• NOTE: The winner advances to the Evansville Harrison Semistate on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m. EDT.
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