Louisburg puts Ottawa away early

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 13, 2016

Louisburg’s (from left) Madisen Simpson, Hallie Hutsell and Lilly Scott celebrate the game’s final goal Monday following the Wildcats’ 10-0 victory over Ottawa in Louisburg. The Wildcats are now 5-1-1 to start the season.

One right after the other, the Louisburg shots found the back of the net – 10 of them to be exact.

The Wildcats wanted this one to be done early.

For the first time in its history, the Louisburg girls soccer team invoked the mercy rule and its unfortunate opponent was Ottawa. The Wildcats defeated the Cyclones 10-0 on Monday in Louisburg as their goals came in bunches.

Louisburg scored six goals in the first half and four more in just eight minutes in the second half before the game was called with 32 minutes remaining.

“The best part was watching them do the things we have been trying to work on instead of just running and playing the ball along,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said. “We were trying to find feet and it looked better in the second half. It was nice to get out and go. Ottawa is a rebuilding team and they are well-coached, but a result like this is always nice.”

The Lady Cats (5-1-1) have been on a scoring onslaught these last two games. In their last two contests, they have accounted for 16 goals, which is six more than their five previous matches combined.

Sophomore Bailey Belcher led the attack for the Lady Cats as she recorded her first hat trick of the season with a pair of goals in the first half and another in the second.

Sophomore Bailey Belcher puts a shot on goal during Monday's contest against Ottawa in Louisburg.

Sophomore Bailey Belcher takes a shot on goal during Monday’s contest against Ottawa in Louisburg.

Senior Maddie McDaniel also had a big day offensively as she finished with two goals and also added three assists. Freshman Camdyn Clark also contributed two goals in the win, while junior Madisen Simpson notched two assists and a goal.

“Bailey is doing a good job along with Maddie,” Conley said. “They are really wanting to be offensive right now and push, but we are trying to get them to find a little balance. I am really excited on how they are getting better and today was just icing on the cake. “

Belcher got the scoring started early in the opening minutes with a goal, and a few minutes later, Clark got into the action. Clark scored on an assist from McDaniel to put Louisburg up two goals.

McDaniel made it 3-0 on an assist from Simpson and Belcher made it a four-goal lead. Simpson found McDaniel again on another scoring opportunity for an assist and Clark made it 6-0 with a goal shortly before halftime.

The Lady Cats weren’t satisfied with their lead as they continued to play hard in the final half.

“Being an inexperienced team, I am worried about them getting complacent or being satisfied with what they have, then giving up and all of sudden giving up a couple goals,” Conley said. “It is easy to get lax in a game like this, but every game we have to be ready to go because a team can sneak up on you at any time. I was proud of the way they continued to play though and it was good to see.”

Less than four minutes into the second half, Belcher completed her hat trick to put Louisburg up 7-0 and the Lady Cats scored quickly after.

Sophomore Savannah Reinhart put the Lady Cats up eight with a goal thanks to an assist from junior Lily Cook. McDaniel assisted the game’s final two goals by Simpson and freshman Hallie Hutsell.

Louisburg will try for its third-consecutive win Thursday when it travels to meet undefeated, and state-ranked Spring Hill. The Lady Cats will have to do it without a couple players who are out with an injury.

“The kids are just busting their butts right now and their goal is to get better every day,” Conley said. “There are some games where you are going to have a result like this and there are some where it is going to be a dogfight. We are playing a Spring Hill team that is ranked No. 1 in our region by one ranking so it is a good game for us. Since we are down some bodies, this result helped us out a lot and we were able to rest our legs a little bit.

“We are a little bit ahead of where I thought we would be. I don’t know that anyone could have fathomed us being 5-1-1 to start the season. Ultimately, we are doing a great job of being ready to go and working. We are ahead of schedule, but our league is incredibly difficult. Spring Hill and De Soto are ranked right now and Baldwin is much improved. A lot of nights we are going to be playing a powerhouse so we have to be ready to go. I couldn’t be prouder of them right now.”

JV rolls Ottawa

The Louisburg junior varsity picked up right where the varsity left off as it defeated Ottawa 8-0 on Monday in Louisburg.

Megan Anderson led the way for Louisburg as she recorded her first hat trick of the season with three goals. Savannah Reinhart recorded two goals on the day as well.