Center Grove girls soccer drops opener

The Center Grove girls soccer team debuted its new artificial turf field on Monday night. Unfortunately, the new surface didn’t produce a new result against recent nemesis Columbus North.

Jenna Lang’s goal with 26:31 remaining in the second half held up as the Bull Dogs continued their reign over the Trojans with a 1-0 triumph in the season opener for both on Monday night.

“The last two, three years we’ve had the run of, we just can’t finish,” Center Grove coach Mike Bishop said of the rivalry with Columbus North. “We have that issue. But it gets better; you see each other plenty, and you know what their tactics are. … You just have to make sure you get one in the net before they do.”

That didn’t happen on Monday. Both teams had chances during a scoreless first half, but North goaltender Kaylyn Bates and Center Grove netminder Kelti Wise were up to the challenge. Wise tipped a Bull Dog shot just over the crossbar in the 12th minute, and Bates was able to cut off a couple of Trojan breakaways.

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Center Grove had a 6-3 edge in overall shots in the first 40 minutes and a 3-2 advantage in shots on goal, but it was unable to find the back of the net.

Lang’s tally, a hard uncontested laser to the upper left side of the net from about 12 yards out, capped an early second-half surge by the Bull Dogs, who had opened the second half with a handful of quality opportunities. Lauren Whitley had a point-blank shot turned away in the 43rd minute by Wise, who made a diving stop of a Lang shot just over two minutes later.

The best chance the Trojans had at an equalizer came in the 64th minute when freshman Lexi Glover carried in to close range. Her shot got past Bates but went just high of the crossbar.

Bishop was disappointed with the defeat, but he’s confident that playing tough teams early in the season will pay dividends late.

“You have to play harder teams. You have to have that competition, otherwise you get to the tournament and get slapped around a little bit, so to speak,” he said. “I would rather go and take your lumps early and often, so you know and you’re more battle-tested when you get to that part of the season.

“It just stinks losing that first game on the turf.”