Lady Hounds rally in win at Central Lee

Randolph, Kruse provide second half offense as Fort Madison wins 3rd straight

BY JOHN BOHNENKAMP
PCC SPORTS

DONNELLSON - This one was much closer.
Central Lee’s girls soccer team gave up 10 goals, and didn’t score, in a loss to Fort Madison last season.
It was a different story when the two teams met on Tuesday night, but the Bloodhounds got enough offense for the victory.
Fort Madison rallied in the second half for a 2-1 victory, the Bloodhounds’ second win in two nights.
Camille Kruse’s goal off a corner kick with 26:24 to play in the match proved to be the game winner.
“We made them earn it,” Central Lee coach Antonio Estrada said. “It’s nice not getting 10-0ed like we did last year. But it shows how far we’ve come as a team.”
Fort Madison (6-2) extended its winning streak to three matches by figuring out a way to get some offense in the second half.
The Bloodhounds trailed 1-0 after Central Lee’s Addy Brumble scored off a corner kick with 8:18 left in the first half. But Fort Madison’s offense was more aggressive in the second half.
“I think we did a better job of connecting passes, a better job of having an idea of where we wanted to go with the ball, and that’s something we talked about at halftime,” Fort Madison coach Carrie Burken said. “Plus our communication was better. So it looked like we had more of an idea of what we wanted to do in the second half.
“Them talking, them deciding, ‘This is what we have to do,’ that really helped a lot.”
Fort Madison tied the match with 29:40 to play when Natalie Randolph scored on a penalty kick. Kruse then delivered the game-winner three minutes later.
“I don’t know if the girls got tired, or Fort Madison made some adjustments,” Estrada said. “I think we just got tired and we panicked a little bit more. Maybe we thought we had the game when we went up 1-0. We didn’t massage the ball down the field like we should have. We got caught playing kickball more. “
The Bloodhounds were coming off a 6-2 win over Fairfield on Monday night.
“It’s always tough playing two games in a row, because physically, you’re tired,” Burken said. “And when you’re physically tired, you’re mentally tired. I think we faced two totally different teams, and playing two different teams takes a lot of adjusting.
“Happy with two wins. We’ll take ‘em. They might not have been the prettiest, but we’ll take them.”
“Our program is going the right way,” Estrada said. “These kids want to win, just like I want to win. We’re getting better. We’ll learn from this and keep going.”