By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Ain’t that a kick in the head? In more ways than one, Bedford North Lawrence suffered a devastating blow.
Just minutes away from ending their lengthy losing streak against Hoosier Hills Conference opponents, the Stars surrendered a controversial goal as Jennings County escaped with a 2-1 victory on Thursday. Jennings forward Aubrie McClintock poked home the winning shot with 4:07 left as BNL came up agonizingly short of its first HHC win since 2018.
Locked in a late 1-1 deadlock, BNL goalie Madalyn Mason went down to stop a close-range shot. When she did, she absorbed a kick in the head and lost control, allowing McClintock to win a scramble for the loose ball and score the eventual game winner. Mason left the contest with obvious concussion symptoms, so the damage was double.
Soccer rules dictate protection for prone goalies, who are considered in possession of the ball if they are touching it. However, there is also no rule to prohibit a player from touching the goalkeeper in the 6-yard box in front of the net. Players can legitimately challenge for the ball with the goalkeeper. While Mason was given medical attention, referees conferred and allowed the goal. How would legendary crooner Dean Martin have sung about that bad break? “Like the fella once said . . .”
“It seems to happen to us a lot, where we have something like that to keep us from winning,” BNL coach Bret Roberts said. “Hopefully, one of these games, our unluckiness will switch and we will be the lucky ones. It’s upsetting to me to watch them go through that, over and over. We were so close. And something out to the blue happens.”
At this point in the six-year skid, the Stars would have taken the tie. And they were in position to win when they scored first. Jayella Filler converted a penalty kick at 10:50 in the first half, but the Panthers (3-4-1, 2-0-1 in the HHC) answered back quickly off the restart, with Sofia Lazcano dribbling through traffic to score less than a minute later. That yanked momentum away from BNL.
“Some of the most important parts of the game are right after you score,” Roberts said. ”It’s a good opportunity to score again with positive momentum, but it’s also a motivation for the other team to get it back. And that’s what they did. We were excited we scored, but we weren’t prepared for them to come at us as powerful as they did. We were on our heels.”
That set up the frantic finish. McClintock, the leading JC scorer a year ago, was just back from injury, so her impact was crucial.
“She’s a goal hound,” JC coach Olivia Owens said. “We need her and that’s exactly why. We’ve struggled to score this year, and that’s always a fear going into some of these games.
“We weren’t doing a very good job of winning the 50-50 balls in the first half, We really focused on that. Those last six minutes they really locked in and some key players decided they would win.”
BNL (1-7, 0-4) will host Seymour on Sept. 19.
