GIRLS SOCCER: Berries bombard Indians 8-1
Sep. 6—The Logansport girls soccer team shelled future Hoosier Conference opponent Twin Lakes 8-1 Tuesday at the LHS soccer field.
Senior Isabel Padilla led the goal-scoring barrage with four goals for the Berries (4-7). It was her second four-goal game in a week as she also had four seven days earlier against Rochester.
The Berries dominated possession and would often come up with steals that led to goals. That's what happened in the ninth minute when senior defender Haleigh Brock came up with a steal, dribbled upfield and fired a shot past the goalkeeper to make it a 1-0 game.
Kellyn Cripe received a pass in the box and chipped one in past the goalie to make it 2-0 in the 18th minute. Padilla came up with a steal and score to make it 3-0 in the 33rd minute. Defender Daniela Dubon made an offensive run and was in the right place at the right time when Twin Lakes made a defensive blunder and Dubon found herself alone near the goal with the ball and kicked it in to make it a 4-0 game in the 35th minute. The score would remain that way until halftime.
Twin Lakes was without its leading scorer, Yolanda Mares, who is Padilla's cousin. Mares is out with a knee injury. Jasmine Aragon got the Indians on the board in the 47th minute to make it a 4-1 game.
But it was all Berries from that point on as Padilla had a hat trick after halftime as she continued her strong attacks at the goal. Brock also scored her second goal of the game when her well-struck corner kick deflected off the goalkeeper and into the goal.
For as much as the Berries dominated in the 8-1 game, it could have been even more lopsided if not for some nice saves made by TL goalkeeper Chloe Lucas, who was one of the hardest working players on the field Tuesday.
The Berries were also without one of their top players, senior Gracie Henderson.
"We didn't play our best game but it wasn't bad," Logansport assistant coach Neil Muller said. "We got an opportunity to get a lot of the inexperienced girls in and everybody got to play so that was nice. Everybody got a chance to be on the field tonight. We always enjoy those opportunities."
Muller was filling in for Todd Reiff, who was out of state on Tuesday. Muller and Reiff are in their 21st season of coaching the program together. Prior to that Reiff was an assistant under Derrick Morgan for one season in 2002.
While the Berries have some standouts this year, they also have a lot of inexperienced soccer players.
"We've got a lot of girls I won't say they're young but they're soccer young, a lot of inexperience," Muller said. "That's our challenge, we don't have a lot of depth and our numbers are small this year."
Muller added the coaches are looking for the team to improve its play in the second half of the season. While opponents like Harrison, McCutcheon and Lafayette Jeff are always going to be tough, there's been some winnable games that got away en route to the 4-7 start.
One of those games was a 5-2 loss at Richmond Saturday in a game the Berries trailed 4-1 at halftime.
"Richmond had very good ball control, very good touch on the ball," Muller said. "Their passing and possession was beautiful. That's a game where we gave up a couple really bad goals and we left a lot of scoring opportunities. We had a lot of chances in front of their goal and just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. The first half we didn't play real aggressive. The second half we played them even, played them 1-1.
"That's been a bit of our problem this season is we've left a lot on the field, missed a lot of open opportunities which has hurt us a lot."
One of the reasons the Berries made the trek to Richmond is there is no NCC Tournament scheduled this year. This is the final year for Logansport, Harrison and McCutcheon in the NCC. The only league team Logan is not playing this year is Anderson.
Logan hosts Muncie Central for a boys-girls doubleheader on Saturday.
