Lady Hounds find right time for win at Bracewell

BURLINGTON — The two short blasts of the official’s whistle ended a long wait for the Fort Madison girls soccer team.
The Bloodhounds had taken out their biggest rival on the biggest stage so far this season, and it was one worth celebrating.
Fort Madison’s 3-1 win over Burlington in Tuesday’s Class 2A Region 4 semifinal ended an extended skid against the Bloodhounds’ Southeast Conference and annual postseason nemesis.
Fort Madison (14-2-1), ranked 15th in 2A, will play at No. 4 North Scott (14-1-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the regional final, with the winner advancing to the state tournament.
It had been 1,106 days since Fort Madison’s last win over the Grayhounds, a 3-2 win in the regional semifinals in 2023. Burlington had won nine of the last 10 matches between the two teams, including in the 2024 and 2025 postseasons, but the 2-2 tie between the two teams on May 4 was a sign that the Bloodhounds knew how to stay with the Grayhounds.
And they did in this win, matching Burlington shot for shot, shove for shove, stride for stride.
“This win is huge,” goalkeeper Ellie Hellman said. “I had yet to beat Burlington in my high school career until tonight, so this win, especially in the postseason, is amazing.”
“It means a lot,” said senior Hadley Wolfe, whose two first-half goals provided early momentum. “I think it's only my second time beating them in my whole career, so I really wanted to beat them on their home field.”
Wolfe’s first goal, which came 110 seconds into the match, provided an early jolt. It was a perfect feed from Reilynn Turnbull, who caught Wolfe crashing down the middle of the box. Wolfe’s shot was perfectly placed past Burlington goalkeeper Sophia Young, and Fort Madison had the lead.
“It gave us that momentum to start the game, and it gave me that confidence that we can do this, and we can beat them on their home field,” Wolfe said.
“It was huge,” Fort Madison coach Carrie Burken said. “When I look at our games against Burlington, I think most of our best opportunities come at the beginning when we're fresh and we're really focused, and so to get early goals, just build confidence and build momentum, was big.”
“It set the tone,” said senior Halle Menke.
Wolfe then added a second goal with 20 minutes left in the half, bombing a deep shot off a pass from Menke.
“I just hit the first one, so I thought I might as well try the second, and it went in,” Wolfe said. “And after that, it was just like, OK, we can do this if we just settle down and play our game.”

Burlington had six shots on goal in the first half, but Hellman was there to shut down the Grayhounds. She was active throughout the night, often drifting away from the net to corral deep passes from the Burlington offense.
“You always have to be aggressive with Burlington,” said Hellman, who would finish the game with nine saves. “They're a very good team, aggressive with the ball, they have great possession, so you know you have to be ready to get any loose ball that's there.”
“Oh my gosh, she was so good,” Burken said. “Yesterday at practice, she was just on fire. We were playing a game and she wasn’t allowing any goals. Everyone was like, ‘Come on Ellie, let one in so we can go home.’”
A 2-0 lead is always dangerous in soccer, and it was something Burken and assistant coach Matt Rump reminded the team of at halftime.
“I literally said, 'Listen, like, we have to be just as focused as we were from minute one. If we're not, they're gonna score on us,’” Burken said. “I said we needed to possess the ball, we needed to do what was helping us be successful. We had to focus, we had to be communicating, we had to be intentional. I talked with the defense specifically, we just talked about positioning and where we needed to be. So it's just a lot of that. It was like, ‘Don’t let them be relaxed, don't let them mess around, let's stay focused.’”
Menke then erased any concern with her 25-yard free kick that got
over the head of Young into the top of the net. The lead was 3-0 four minutes into the second half, a chasm the way the Bloodhounds were playing.
“Aim small, miss small,” Menke said. “I wanted to put it on goal, that's the most important thing.”
“I've been wanting Halle to shoot that, so I was glad she shot it,” Wolfe said. “That just solidified that, hey, we're still in this ball game, and if we just play our defense and play our game, then we can close this game out.”
“I think Coach Rump said at halftime, specifically to Hadley and Halle, to get a third goal right away. So it was, yeah, hugely important.”
Burlington’s lone goal came from Kiara Winski with 31:10 to play, but while the Grayhounds still tried to pressure the Fort Madison defense, the Bloodhounds always seemed to have an answer.
“Oh, they were crucial,” Hellman said. “Charley (Huebner), Molly (Schulte), Izzy (Behne), Macyn (Lampe), Morgan (Brooks), everyone did such an amazing job. They were really making sure that they were cutting off the angle for shots, being aggressive, pressuring the ball. It took a huge weight off my job.”
When those last two whistle blasts echoed through the Bracewell valley, the Bloodhounds were moving on.
“I'll take it,” Burken said. “I'll take one more practice with these girls, one more game.
“And see where it goes from there.”