The Seymour girls’ soccer team attempted shots from several different angles on Saturday but were unable to convert as the Owls fell 1-0 to New Albany in a Hoosier Hills Conference match.
New Albany’s goal was actually scored on Sept. 8, as the first 10 minutes of the match was played on that date.
It was suspended because of weather with 30 minutes left in the first half, which was resumed Saturday.
“We’re still struggling on that final ball,” Owls coach Greg Musser said. “Most of our opportunities are coming just by effort rather than strategically moving the ball up the field.
“That can work sometimes but not all the time, and right now we’re just missing that final ball, not putting ourselves in a real good spot to shoot. We don’t have a lot of dangerous opportunities at times. When we move the ball strategically up the field we get dangerous opportunities, and we had a few of them in this game. We couldn’t capitalize.”
Seymour’s Elizabeth Hartman had two strong attempts to score in the first half, but both shots were stopped by Bulldogs goalie Hannah Pinuelas.
Seymour had three shots in the first half to two for the Bulldogs.
Kayla Griffin had a free kick from the right side at 25:40 of the second half, but it was stopped by the goalie.
Griffin had a free kick from the left side with 14:30 remaining, but Pinuelas got her hands on the ball and knocked it away. Aidan Hiester shot on the rebound but it was also stopped by the goalie.
Seymour finished with eight shots to five for the Bulldogs.
The Owls were also unsuccessful on four corner kicks.
Musser was pleased with the Owls’ defense in the middle of field.
“Our defense has been a catalyst for us pretty much all year,” Musser said. “We have a senior leader and captain in Rachel (Collett) and Kayla (Griffin), a senior captain in the back. You’ve got a couple girls that have been playing a lot of varsity minutes the last few years, so it’s tough to beat us through the middle.
“New Albany has a really solid middle. Our defense has been a catalyst, we just have to find a way to score goals to make up for that.”
The Owls finished 2-4-1 in the HHC and will take an 8-7-2 record into the Columbus North Sectional.
Seymour will play North, on the football field, at 6 p.m. Oct. 6.
“We’re going to prepare for North,” Musser said. “We know they have a lot of weapons, so we definitely have to be positionally sound and look for counter attacks and things like that. We’re not going to change who we are just because we’re playing a Columbus school.
We’re going to make them beat us, not a version of us that we’re going to try to change. We’ll see how it goes, and we have a week to prepare.”