FORT MADISON - Fort Madison girls soccer coach Carrie Burken called the difference in halves “night and day” in Thursday’s 5-2 win over Mount Pleasant.
“Cloudy and sunny” might have been a better description.
The Bloodhounds (4-2 overall, 4-1 Southeast Conference) trailed at halftime before a second-half eruption of four goals helped them shake off Monday’s 1-0 overtime loss to Burlington.
Burken smiled as she jokingly credited the change in weather — there was sun in the second half and a reduction in the wind — as the difference in the match.
“The sun came out and we found our energy,” Burken said. “And we started playing so much better. I don’t know if it was just seeing the sun and that woke them up.
“Whatever happened, it worked.”
Monday’s loss was a setback for the Bloodhounds in the conference race, and one more loss within the league could be devastating to the chances of repeating last year’s run to a share of the title. That thought, Burken said, probably spurred on her team.
“I think everyone was just kind of out of it in the first half,” Burken said. “And I think in the second half we realized this is a must-win game if we want to win the conference.”
Fort Madison trailed 2-1 at halftime, getting very little offense while letting the Panthers (4-3, 2-3) control the pace of the match.
The Bloodhounds, though, took control in the second half. Teagan Snaadt, who had Fort Madison’s lone first-half goal, scored to tie the match. Hadley Wolfe then added back-to-back goals to put the Bloodhounds in command, then Paetyn Wiegand scored late for the final margin.
“I think we were giving more clear directions out there — play the ball in the middle on offense, and just keep doing that — and we started communicating better,” Burken said. “Communication, to me, starts everything, and I think we started doing that.
“Like I said, night and day.”
Burken was happy with how her team responded after Monday’s defeat.
“It was a rough loss,” she said. “So it was really important for us to get the win today, to show us that we are a quality team. I thought our first half tonight was probably as bad as we played the entire season. So it would have been really disappointing to lose, because we didn’t play up to our potential. So I think coming back and winning against Mount Pleasant, a good team, was important.”
The Bloodhounds have back-to-back home matches next week, facing Fairfield on Monday and Central Lee on Tuesday.
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