Trinity Lutheran’s girls soccer team came up with its best performance of the season Saturday in blanking Corydon Central 6-0 on the Cougars’ field.
“We played a complete game from the opening kick all the way to the end, so I couldn’t be happier,” coach Thom Hayes said.
Defense, which has been a strong suit for the Cougars this year, propelled them back to .500 so far this year.
“The defense was amazing. That’s what I told the girls,” Hayes said. “We’ve been strong on defense all season long. I’m always kind of tempted to mess with that as the game goes by, but I just left everything the way we started and just kept playing to get the shutout."
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Hayes contends any time his girls play like they did Saturday, they can play with anyone.
“I told them we have a good chance to beat any team if we play defense like that," he said. "I play a sweeper system, and I’ve got Flossie Cooper at sweeper, and her job is to just tell the four defenders surrounding her where to go. It’s more positioning than one-on-one.”
He said he liked the way the Cougars controlled the ball.
“It was the same game plan we had against Brown County (Thursday), and they improved on it more today," Hayes said. "We’re controlling the ball in the middle and then passing it outside to our forwards, and that’s working out great.”
Trinity starting goalie Ashley Goecker had six saves and Erin Emzinger had four saves as the Cougars recorded their second shutout of the season as they also blanked Franklin.
After both teams missed shots in the opening 10 minutes, Kailene Cockerham scored at 29:46 and followed with another goal at 27:40, and the Cougars were in charge.
Emma Goecker added a goal at 22:27, and Hayes said it was nice to have a 3-0 lead at the half.
“It was huge,” he said. “Our keeper was wanting out, and I said, ‘Let’s just chill out a little bit,’ and then we made a keeper change.”
Emma Myers added to Trinity’s lead with goals at 35:16 and 12:35, and Sarah Lemming closed the scoring at 9:03 as the Cougars won back-to-back matches for the first time this season.
“I’m happy Sarah Lemming got her first goal. She’s very happy about that,” Hayes said.
Trinity had 22 shots for the day. Lemming had two saves, and Cockerham and Goecker each had one save.
“I didn’t want to have a letdown, and I’m glad we didn’t,” Hayes concluded.
Trinity has three more matches this week, beginning with today at Indianapolis Herron. The Cougars will be home Tuesday to face Christian Academy of Indiana and will go to Salem on Thursday.