It was worth the wait for the Bowling Green girls’ soccer team, which blanked District 14 rival Warren Central 5-0 in the completion of a suspended game at Bowling Green Junior High School on Monday.

In a game that began Aug. 30 at Warren Central but was suspended in the 23rd minute due to lightning with Bowling Green leading 2-0, the Lady Purples kept applying pressure with three second-half goals and pulled away from the Lady Dragons.

“I don’t think I have ever had to pick up a game (before),” BG coach Lisa Correa said. “It was kind of a different situation. It took us a while to get in the flow of things, but once we started settling down we had a lot better opportunities.”

Bowling Green (8-3-2 overall, 3-0 District 14) was ahead 2-0 after goals from Caroline Buchanan and Emma Kate Widener when the game resumed, but the Lady Purples started slow Monday and were unable to add any more goals in the final 17 minutes of the first half.

The Lady Purples continued to have trouble adding to the lead with Warren Central goalkeeper Eriona Shabani able to turn away some direct shots for the first half and the opening 16 minutes of the second half. Bowling Green finally added to its lead when Catherine Walker scored in the box off a pass from the right side by Erica Smith.

Quick ball movement led to the other two goals as well, with Whitaker Buchanan’s header off a corner kick by Caroline Buchanan making the score 4-0 in the 67th minute and Whitaker Buchanan adding a second goal seven minutes later.

“I give a lot of credit to Warren Central, they came out with a lot of fire,” Whitaker Buchanan said. “They really proved themselves tonight. They have definitely improved and their coaching staff has really worked with their team.

“We really just came together at halftime and talked about it. We were like, ‘They are out to try and tie it up, possibly win. We have to come out and fight and play to feet and possess around and get some goals in,’ and we did.”

Warren Central (8-2, 1-2) was able to get off three shots – two on goal – in the second half, but Bowling Green’s Caroline Miller turned away both shots.

“We allowed two goals at our place, so we kind of put ourselves in a very unfortunate (situation),” Warren Central coach Alex Tungate said. “But we came out and had a game plan and I thought we executed the game plan very well. We are just learning. Every half that we are playing right now is a learning moment. Thank goodness we have the best goalkeeper in the whole region.”

Shabani finished with 15 saves during Monday’s completion of the suspended game.

“If she can key in on the dribbler, it is very difficult to score because she is in good position and has really nice hands,” Correa said. “She hit several over the bar that were pretty decent shots. We spread the ball around a little bit and was able to get some good movement, especially with our center-mids. They were moving the ball really well and it is good to see.”

Warren Central will return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday, hosting Fort Knox. Bowling Green hosts Greenwood at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

“We will try to prepare as best as we can and hopefully we will play our best come Thursday,” Correa said.{&end}