FORT MADISON Fort Madison’s offense badgered Burlington for the first half of Monday’s girls soccer match, but couldn’t get any goals.
Then the Grayhounds’ offense struck in the second half, and the frustration for the Bloodhounds grew.
Burlington’s 2-0 win put the Grayhounds in control of the Southeast Conference title race and left the Bloodhounds lamenting the missed chances.
“We had some good runs, really good opportunities, and we really couldn’t finish,” Fort Madison coach Carrie Burken said.
Fort Madison (7-2 overall, 5-2 conference) fell to 2½ games behind the Grayhounds (10-2, 8-0) in the conference standings with three conference matches left for the Bloodhounds.
Fort Madison had five shots on goal in the first half, seven overall, but couldn’t get anything into the net. Teagan Snaadt, Natalie Randolph and Hadley Wolfe, the Bloodhounds’ three leading scorers this season, each had two shots on goal.
When Burlington’s Brooklyn Sparrow scored off a corner kick six minutes into the second half, it only magnified the missed opportunities.
“You could see emotionally, there was a deflation, rather than, ‘Let’s go, let’s get it back,’” Burken said. “ I think it’s frustrating when you have more shots than they did, and then you give up a goal.”
It was the first time all season the Bloodhounds had been behind in a match. The only goals Fort Madison had allowed to that point were the three surrendered to the Grayhounds in penalty kicks at the end of the April 11 match at Burlington — the Bloodhounds had not given up a goal in regulation time.
And when Burlington’s Isabella Ziegler scored with 21:34 to play, the Grayhounds were in command.
“I feel like our communication broke down,” Burken said. “We really didn’t do a good job of communicating in the first half, but I felt like it got worse somehow. And then I think we got a little disjointed defensively.”
Burlington has won four of the last five matches against Fort Madison. But Burken pointed out how the Grayhounds beat the Bloodhounds twice in the regular season last year, with Fort Madison then eliminating Burlington in the postseason.
“If you look at the two games against Burlington, we had our opportunities, we had our chances to win,” she said. “We needed to be better in the second half. We needed to connect on passes better, we needed to communicate better, and we need to learn from that.”
Fort Madison plays at Mount Pleasant on Tuesday. The Panthers are a game ahead of Fort Madison in second place in the conference after Monday’s 10-0 win over Keokuk.
“We have to refocus, because Mount Pleasant is a good team,” Burken said. “It’s not a given that it’s a win. So we have to be ready to play.”
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