Bowling Green defender Kennedy Bosworth tries to circumvent a Napoleon player in the Bobcats’ 7-0 rout over the Wildcats on Wednesday. (Jeffery Ratliff | Northwest Signal)
By Jeffery Ratliff
Northwest Signal
NAPOLEON — Bowling Green girls soccer remained red hot, as the Bobcats peppered the goal throughout the game and rolled to a 7-0 Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division win over Napoleon Wednesday at Buckenmeyer Stadium.
Alayna Mahan tallied four goals, including three in the second half, and Claire Rieman added a pair of goals for Bowling Green, which is 6-1-1 in its last eight games.
“We knew their first goalie Jill (Richard) is really good,” said BG coach Erika Kimple. “We knew we had to test her, take advantage of any opportunity when we got them. We knew we had to take a lot of shots.”
They certainly did that, as Richard made five saves in the first 15 minutes of the game, including a kick save on a shot by Mahan from point-blank range.
With 16:13 remaining in the first half, BG finally broke through, as Mahan beat the defense to the ball after a long pass down the field. Mahan’s shot found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
After Richard made another save on a scoring attempt by Caroline Newlove, Rieman scored with 13:20 left in the first half. Rieman again beat the defense to the ball and scored with a soft touch across her body to the far corner of the goal.
“We noticed right away that they (Napoleon) were taking a high line,” said Kimple. “It took us a little while to adjust because we like to maintain possession of the ball. But once we did, we started sending the ball deep and we moved Alayna out wide because she is good at making diagonal runs.”
BG made one more adjustment at halftime, taking a little off the pass so its players could get to the ball and have time to square up shots better.
Richard, who made two bigs saves just before intermission, allowed two more BG goals before moving to forward with 12 minutes remaining in the game. She had more than 20 saves in the contest.
Mahan scored 15½ minutes into the second half, taking the ball off a corner kick and making a half bicycle kick that surprised everyone and found the back of the net for a 3-0 lead.
She tallied her third goal of the game with 16½ minutes remaining.
Rieman added a goal, against a new Napoleon keeper, with 11 minutes remaining, while Allison Wiles scored two minutes later. Mahan capped her big night with her fourth goal with 7:47 left on the clock.
“We started the season rough, going 0-5,” said Kimple. “We are starting to figure some things out. We are a young team and we needed to learn some things.
“I am actually happy we started out rough because we are peaking now,” added Kimple. “We really struggled scoring goals, so a night like tonight when you score seven goals does a lot for our confidence, and that can be so important come the postseason.”
BG (6-6-1 overall, 1-2-1 in the NLL) hosts Fremont Ross for a league contest Wednesday, Oct. 2.
Napoleon, which had one shot on goal, is now 3-10-2 overall and 1-5-1 in the Cardinal Division. The Wildcats travel to Clay for a NLL match Wednesday, Oct. 2.
