FORT MADISON - Fort Madison’s 5-0 girls soccer win over Fairfield was lopsided in a lot of ways, especially since the ball rarely was played on the Trojans’ side of the field.
The Bloodhounds (8-0-2 overall, 5-0-1 Southeast Conference) continued with what has led them all season — a stingy defense and an attacking offense that didn’t let Fairfield (3-6, 1-6) get anything going.
“It’s a combination of everything,” coach Carrie Burken said. “We've just done a really good job the last few games with possession, and just really focusing on keeping possession. So I think that's worked really well.
“And it’s not only connecting passes, keeping possession, but also being able to step in to stop teams, because that was the big key for defense today. We stepped in and didn't allow them to receive the ball. They can't have possession if they're not able to receive the ball.”
The Bloodhounds have allowed just one goal all season, ninth best among all teams in the state, and that came in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Mediapolis.
“I have a feeling that we're pretty good,” said senior defender Bailey Vaughn. “We have really good team bonding. I feel like we work really well together, and I think we're doing pretty good for only having one school score on us. It's not that big of a deal. I mean, we were all kind of bummed, but it happens, and it was bound to happen anyway.”
Vaughn said the defensive success was all about communication.
“I feel like a lot of it is a good connection from playing (together) in the past and stuff like that,” Vaughn said. “ But I feel like still, when we have newer players kind of rotated in, we still get pretty good communication, because we're kind of trying to ease them into it a little bit more and get them used to it.”
Fairfield got just one shot on goal, compared to the 20 for the Bloodhounds.
Fort Madison, though, didn’t score until the 8:06 mark of the first half, when Halle Menke scored off a pass from Reilynn Turnbull. Hadley Wolfe blasted in a goal from deep 22 seconds later, then the Bloodhounds nearly got another goal with 5:30 to play, but Teagan Snaadt was called for being offsides. Snaadt, though, did score with 11 seconds left in the half for a 3-0 halftime lead.
“I think I said over on the sideline with probably, like, I don't know, 10 minutes left in the half, but it was just kind of like, well, hopefully we get a goal this half,” Burken said. “I was not in a panic mode, but I was like, it'd be nice to get a goal. And then all of the sudden we had three. They were just compacting the middle so much and just really focusing defensively. So with their numbers, I just figured if we could just wear them down enough that would start to open up space on offense.”
Wolfe scored 4 ½ minutes into the second half for her second goal of the match and her sixth of the week. The final goal was a Fairfield own goal, when Anna McAvan accidentally knocked the ball into the net trying to clear it.
Wolfe and Menke each had assists.
The Bloodhounds play at Burlington on Monday with the conference lead on the line. The two teams played to a scoreless draw on April 17.
“I’d say it’s a pretty big (rivalry),” Vaughn said. “We’re always going head-to-head.”
“I think we learned what it looks like to play a good possession team,” Burken said of the Grayhounds. “They're the best possession team we've played this year. We've played some good teams with good possession, but they've been the best. So what does that look like when we don't have as much possession, when we have to work hard on defense, what does that look like? I think we just learned that it's going to be a fight — it always is.”
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