Lady Hounds stay perfect with 4-1 win over Mediapolis

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison’s shutout streak ended in the first half of Tuesday’s match against Mediapolis, but what coach Carrie Burken wanted to see out of her players was how they would respond.
The response was a second-half three-goal outburst in the 4-1 win.
Hadley Wolfe scored twice in the opening minutes of the second half, and Teagan Snaadt scored her second goal of the day with 19:49 to play, as the Bloodhounds (7-0-2) extended their winning streak to three.
Fort Madison, which hadn’t allowed a goal all season, led 1-0 off Snaadt’s first goal of the match with 29 minutes left. But Mediapolis' Amelia Grier, whose penalty kick moments earlier had been stopped by Fort Madison goalkeeper Ellie Hellman, scored when her shot bounced off Hellman and rolled into the net with 24:05 left in the first half to tie the match.
“What I said at halftime is, obviously, it's not ideal, but it was actually a very good situation for us to be in,” Burken said. “It's important to be able to see as a team,when you give up a goal, what sort of reaction do we have? What's the mentality when a team comes back on us? And so a lot of what we talked at halftime was just what mentality are we going to have in the second half?
“The body language was not great at halftime. There was a lot of frustration, I think, after giving up that goal. And so the question was to our leaders, how are you going to lead on the field? What's our energy going to be? How are we going to respond to this?”
“I think everything happens for a reason, and I think it was a good thing that we got scored on in this game so we know how to bounce back from these things later in the season,” Wolfe said.

Wolfe, one of the Bloodhounds’ three captains, then delivered two quick goals to put Fort Madison in command.
Wolfe, who also had an assist in the match, has six goals this season. Four have come in the last two nights — she had two in Monday’s 5-0 win at Keokuk.
“It’s finally happening,” said Wolfe, who admitted to some frustration at not making shots earlier this season. “At the start of the season, I wasn’t able to find spots in the back of the net, but it seems like they’re coming at the right part of the season.
“It’s really good seeing her get those,” Burken said. “I mean, she’s had some goals this season, but it was just different in this game. She took a lot of shots, and to me, that shows she’s building confidence. She’s had some great runs and she’s getting good shots. That’s really important for her, and it’s important for the team that she has the confidence to take those shots.”
Halle Menke had two assists for the Bloodhounds, and Reilynn Turnbull had one. Fort Madison had 16 shots on goal.
It’s a good start for the Bloodhounds in a three-match week — they play host to Fairfield on Thursday.
“I'm very happy with that,” Burken said. “ I was very happy with how we played yesterday, and I'm very happy with how we played today. We were able to possess the ball well in both games, connect passes, but we struggled with finishing at times in both games. Still, I’m happy with how we’ve played, and happy with how we responded tonight.”