Bloomington South girls soccer shows off scoring depth in win over North

On paper, this appeared to be a season where most of the Bloomington South girls soccer team’s goals were going to come from Maddie Norman.

That was the scenario head coach David Prall envisioned in early August.

On turf, it hasn’t played out that way at all. The junior, coming off a prolific 29-goal season, was hurt in the third match and missed the next six, forcing others to find the net. So far, 11 Panthers have scored, none with more than five goals to their credit, including Norman (one).

So maybe it’s no real surprise that it was reserve freshman Kat Selo and veteran midfielder Chloe Trinidad who did the honors for South in a 2-0 win at Bloomington North on Monday, Sept. 21. It shows the balance and depth this team is developing.

“It’s kind of been like this all year,” Prall said. “Different people scoring every game.

“It’s kind of the by-product of Maddie being out, and other people started scoring. We talked to Chloe about stepping up and adding goals this year, and she’s done just that. The other games, she’s been a bit more offensive and getting to her spots better. It’s great. It’s just about her growth and progression as a player. All game I thought she was dangerous. She was great.”

Trinidad’s goal came just seconds after a left-footed shot rolled a foot wide right of the net. She made sure the next was on target.

“It was great,” Trinidad said. “My coach has been telling me to step it up and be a bigger leader on the team, so I think it was a great moment.”

South’s first goal was the kind it needed to break the ice against a stiff defense and keeper. Keeper Paloma Martinez worked to improve her leg strength on free kicks and was brought up to midfield with under three minutes to play in the first half.

“She’s taking better and better free kicks that are dangerous,” Prall said. “It’s like a guard with shooting range in basketball, you have to guard more of the field and defend something else. She’s had a great year.”

Her Caitlin Clark-like boot from beyond the logo made it to the top of the box on one hop, ricocheted off a couple North defenders and into open space, where Selo pounced on it and scored. Unlucky for the Cougars, but just the thing the Panthers needed to ease the pressure a bit during halftime.

“They worked really hard (defensively),” North coach Samantha MacNeil said. “Our big thing we told them at halftime is, it happens, you’ve got to move on. And how we come back out will show the character of this team.

“They came out and played with a lot of heart and grit in that second half, especially.”

GOOAAALLLL! Long free kick by keeper Paloma Martinez ends up at the foot of Kat Selo. 1-0 South, 39′ pic.twitter.com/P4yyAem5Wz

— Jim Gordillo (@JimGordillo) September 22, 2026

It’s also no shock that Trinidad and Malone, Norman and Addy Alexander (whose corner kicks were always on target) are the leaders in assists, with their ability to control the ball in traffic and be assertive defensively, causing turnovers. That was a big factor in the second half in shutting down most of North’s potential attacks.

“This is one of the best ball-playing teams that we’ve had,” Prall said. “Just as far as the ball moving.”

So was jumping on the numerous goal kicks North keeper Isobel O’Leary had to send flying after each South shot attempt. Prall saw his team get more aggressive in one-timing those balls in the air back where they came from.

“We knew it was going to be a counter game for them,” Prall said. “If we could have got that first ball, we just let it drop a couple times, and they got something going. We had numbers back, we just kept letting it hit the ground for no reason. It was a bit frustrating.

“But I thought we played pretty well the first half, too.”

No. 1 Bloomington South football ready for schedule to ramp up

The last five regular season meetings with South have been over early: 5-0, 6-0, 8-0, 6-0, 4-0.

The offense was still a struggle for the Cougars, who mounted just a handful of dangerous counters against South’s speedy defense, making Martinez work for a save just once.

“We were sitting a little bit more defensively, especially with how they were playing,” MacNeil said. “So trying to get the ball and step up, something we didn’t do as much as we should have, but we had great moments of doing that and it did create higher up chances for us.”

North shut down shooting lanes and passing lanes and got a bushel of saves from O’Leary in goal.

“Izzy’s been an absolute rockstar,” MacNeil said. “She’s been a captain for the past couple of seasons, so just great leadership from her.”

For long stretches, the defense buckled down and made things tough for a tough opponent in a sectional-like atmosphere with something impotant on the line.. Less than a week after keeping Mid-State Conference leader Plainfield off the board for 73 minutes, they kept South frustrated despite ownership of the ball for most of the night.

“I’m sure it wears them down,” MacNeil said. “But we have a defense that’s no-quit and all heart, so they’re going to keep giving us everything they’ve got.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South girls soccer shows off scoring depth in win over North