Hounds avenge road loss to Panthers

RIGHT ATTITUDES

So, you know, the last few games have been good. But honestly, I want to say — and this is going to sound cliche — but we've been practicing pretty well. We've had the right attitudes in practice.”

Kevin Wellman, FM Head Coach

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison’s boys soccer team needed some momentum heading into the postseason, and there was no better way to do that than knock off the Southeast Conference regular-season champion.
The Bloodhounds closed conference play with a 4-2 win over Mount Pleasant at the Baxter Sports Complex on Monday.
Fort Madison, 7-6-1 overall heading into Friday’s regular-season finale against Newton at home, finished the conference schedule 6-2 and in second place, a half-game behind the Panthers (10-4-1 overall, 6-1-1 conference).
It was a crisp effort for the Bloodhounds, who came in having lost four of their last six matches, a stretch that began with a 5-1 loss at Mount Pleasant that proved to be the deciding match in the conference race.
“I don't know if it was because we were mad about losing to them up there or if we were just kind of clicking a little bit tonight,” Fort Madison coach Kevin Wellman said.
Fort Madison opens Class 3A substate tournament play next Monday, and Wellman hopes this win was a good sign for the Bloodhounds.
“We've had a couple of good games,” Wellman said. “When we were up at Pella, we played really well. We took a loss there (a 3-2 defeat on April 26), but we played well. We played pretty well up at Washington (a 5-1 win last Thursday). So, you know, the last few games have been good. But honestly, I want to say — and this is going to sound cliche — but we've been practicing pretty well. We've had the right attitudes in practice.”
All of the goals for both teams came in the second half.
Jacob Shottenkirk put the Bloodhounds up 1-0 with a goal 11 minutes into the half. Mount Pleasant tied the match three minutes later, then Connor Horn scored twice in the span of three minutes to put Fort Madison in command.
Horn’s first goal came after Mount Pleasant goalkeeper Xachary LeBlanc came out of the net too far. Horn got past him and drilled a shot into the open net.
His second goal had just as much steam on it, a shot into the top left of the net.
The Panthers got to within 3-2 on Samuel Schaapen’s goal with 14:53 left, but Fort Madison extended the lead again when Hunter Wiegand scored 2 ½ minutes later.
“Did the ball bounce a little bit nice for us? Sure,” Wellman said. ”But you saw some headway,, somebody running through a situation. I could point out a couple of people, but, really, I think everybody was playing really well tonight, so it was fun.”
Wellman said his defense pressured the Panthers better than in the first matchup.
“I think we did a good job of bringing our defense up — we had them offside several times,” Wellman said. “Then we can play defense without actually doing anything, so it could conserve a little energy. But yeah, I felt like we applied pressure quickly enough. Didn't let them have a whole lot of time.
They still were able to break down, break us down a couple times. And you know, that'll happen. But I thought we did good things defensively.”