Lady Hounds battle Bombers to 0-0 tie

MACOMB, Ill. — Carrie Burken liked what she saw out of her Fort Madison’s girls soccer team in its season opener on Monday, even if the score was 0-0.
The scoreless tie with Macomb High School didn’t reflect in some ways, but did reflect in others, how the Bloodhounds played.
“I was very pleased with this, considering it was our first game,” Burken said. “We’ve had two weeks of practice to get ready, but one of those was over spring break and we had some players missing. So essentially we had one week of practice with almost everybody together, and I thought we did a lot of good things. We were better in the second half, with a little more of an intention to keep possession of the ball, so overall I’m happy.”
The zero on the offensive side came despite numerous scoring opportunities that Burken knows her team will convert as the season continues. The best scoring chance came 17 minutes into the second half, when Halle Menke’s penalty kick just missed to the left of the net.
“It would be different if it was 0-0 and we didn’t have those opportunities,” Burken said. “Their keeper is really good — I watched her on film and she’s tall. She’s a senior, she’s played a lot, she’s very athletic, and she made some plays. Plus we had a couple of shots hit the crossbar, and those will go in at some point.”
The Bombers were playing their sixth match of the season, so they were ahead of the Bloodhounds in terms of preparation.
“They’ve been practicing since the beginning of March and they’ve already played a lot,” Burken said. “So to be able to stay with them and play the way we did says a lot about how we played.”

The zero on the opposing side was a credit to the Bloodhounds’ defense and the play of goalkeeper Ellie Hellman, playing her first match at the position. Hellman came up with some big plays, including seven saves and a sequence in the second half in which she made back-to-back stops in the span of 10 seconds.
“Oh, she did a great job,” Burken said. “That’s as much confidence as I've seen her play goalie for having practiced it just a few times. So that's just really nice to have her take initiative to play the position and do so well. And there are things to work on, but that's true of everybody at this point of the season.”
Fort Madison’s defense kept the Bombers from attacking up the middle for most of the match.
“We’ve got three starters back on defense, and Charley (Huebner) played a lot last year, so that group has experience. You could see that in the way they played today.”
The match was played on artificial turf — good practice, Burken said, for what the Bloodhounds will see during Southeast Conference play.
“We’ll play on it at Burlington, and at Keokuk, so I think it was good for us to get a chance, especially for our freshmen, to play on it this early in the season,” Burken said.
Fort Madison plays host to Centerville on Thursday.