By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – With all the available gadgets to accurately calculate the feels-like temperature for the humid air and the broiling turf, nothing could measure the heat emanating from Bedford North Lawrence freshman Jenna Mullis.
Attacking with ferocity from her forward striker position in the offense, Mullis exploded for a school-record seven goals, powering the red-hot Stars to an impressive 8-3 triumph over Jeffersonville on Saturday morning.
Shot after shot, set up by teammates who kept her busy with passes into the most dangerous spot on the field, found the net as Mullis shattered the record of six set by Bailey Rosales in 2012. And BNL (5-4-1 overall, 3-2-1 in the Hoosier Hills Conference) needed all of them after the Red Devils (4-2-1) scored three first-half goals to turn up the heat on BNL’s defense.
BNL lost its incredible shutout run (which hit 427 minutes before the Devils broke through), but extended its streak to six straight games without a loss.
Mullis did all of her damage in a 47-minute span, and she exited the offense with 12 minutes left. She was unstoppable at the point of attack.
”Jenna is an excellent striker, she’s absolutely dangerous when she gets on fire,” BNL coach Jordan Himmelspach said. “She found it today. She turned it on, found some space up front.”
The Devils scored first when Haylee Alvarenga lofted a high shot over BNL goalie Aubrey Lynn to end the shutout streak at 32:53 in the first half. That was the Mullis cue to don a Supergirl shirt and go to work.
At 22:41, she took a long pass from Benny Gould to free space in front and beat the goalie. At 18:19, she gathered a pass and smashed another goal to give the Stars the lead. After Jeffersonville cranked home the equalizer at 7:49, with Abigail Lemon finding the net, Mullis went nuclear again with a goal at 7:08 (from Gould) and 4:14 (when the Jeff goalie bobbled a shot and Mullis punched it home before she could recover).
Jeffersonville countered with a late goal at 0:33 seconds, when Layana Cosby made a strong move through the middle and caught Lynn away from the net. The Devils were thriving in the middle, forcing BNL to shift its defensive focus.
”We made some adjustments, we got locked in and understood where we were giving it up and where we needed to be,” Himmelspach said. “We flipped the script. I want a bored goalie. We adjusted in the second half and made sure they couldn’t find that sweet spot.”
Mullis was not done. She banged home a left-footed goal off Elizabeth Miskuf’s pinpoint pass with 31:23 left, matched the record with a shot (from Summer Hughes) at 23:15, and capped her incredible day with a long run through a tiring defense for a 15-yard blast with 13:50 remaining.
”I came ready,” Mullis said. “We came together as a team, and that empowered me to keep going. They were all working together.”
Roslyn Himmelspach finished the scoring with a long run at 9:03.
Mullis recorded a hat trick as an eighth-grader during the middle school tournament. This made that notable performance look like child’s play.
“I’m just thankful I get to do this,” Mullis said. “It’s a really special team.”
The Stars will visit Owen Valley on Monday.
