By Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
Seymour opened its first stretch of conference games dealing with injuries and COVID-19 issues, causing the Owls to be missing some key players.
On Thursday night against Bedford North Lawrence at home, Seymour started to return to the full health, and the Owls showed what they’re capable of.
The defending HHC champs dominated possession over the Stars, winning the match 4-0.
“We’ve been battling some injuries and people being out for this, that and the other, and now we’re finally getting back to our strength,” head coach Greg Musser said. “I loved that we started getting back to who we are — possess the ball, find the wide play and do different things that we were struggling for a few games there.”
Seymour got off to a hot start, scoring two goals within the first 10 minutes of the game from Lillie Wessel and Page Mora.
Eliza Cash added a third before halftime from an assist from Brooke Trinkle, and the Owls went into the break with 14 shots to Bedford’s zero.
Seymour controlled possession on Bedford’s side of the field for nearly the entire game and faced zero shots on goal. The Owls added one more insurance goal with 2:08 left in the game when Camryn Sterling found the back of the net.
This win came after a tough home loss to Floyd Central on Tuesday when the Highlanders scored in the waning minutes to win the game 1-0.
“It’s always nice to get a win right after a loss,” Musser said. “That Floyd game, that was just a good battle. It’s a fun game to be a part of.
“You hate somebody has to lose it, but unfortunately we came up on the backend of that one, but response was good today.”
A big key for Seymour was getting Trinkle back.
She had two assists in the game and provides a big spark for the Owls flying down that left side of the field.
“Her speed is amazing, her touch is amazing,” Musser said. “She recognizes those plays where to get forward and when our center of the park can see that play and get that ball switched to her, she causes a whole lot of havoc on teams. It’s nice to have her back.”
Seymour has been struggling to keep the ball at its feet over the past couple of games, but on Thursday, that wasn’t issue.
The Owls really controlled the tempo, the pace and had the ball for a majority of the time.
“That’s the thing I was on them about for the last three or four games is that we are a way more effective team when the ball is on the surface and we are finding feet,” Musser said. “I think our mids took our coaching point today and applied it, and good things happened.”
Despite not having an ideal start to conference play, Musser does believe it was a blessing in disguise for his team.
Even though the results may not have been what Seymour wanted, it gave the Owls a chance to play some of the younger players and create some depth for later in the season.
“It kind of sucked going through a handful of conference games not at full strength, but we were able to get some younger girls some minutes and put them in some high-pressure situations,” Musser said. “So, I think by the end of the year, those girls are going to be more equipped to jump into some roles if we need them to.
“I think our creativity, I was really pleased with that today. We have some tendencies of getting real one-dimensional at times, but today we were able to find some different opportunities when they closed one thing off, three more things opened and we started to find those, so that’s a good thing. We’re moving in the right direction.”
Seymour will return to action on Saturday when the Owls travel to East Central for a match at 10 a.m.