By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – There are several new faces on the Westfield girls soccer team this year, and so far they’ve been successful.
The Shamrocks improved to 2-0 for the season with a home win over Fishers Wednesday in an all-county and Hoosier Crossroads Conference game. The Tigers took an early 1-0 lead with a goal by Elise May in the 17th minute.
Fishers held that 1-0 lead through halftime, but Westfield quickly tied things up at the start of the second half. Elle Fischer scored just 41 seconds into the half, off an assist by Kylie Ipsen. The game stayed tied until the 70th minute, when an Ary Ali cross turned into the go-ahead goal for the Rocks.
“We’re trying to put a lot of things together, some different things in place and people playing different positions,” said Rachel Fulkerson, Westfield’s first-year coach. Fulkerson is a well-known college coach, having coached at IU Indianapolis and Indiana State previously.
Fulkerson said the Shamrocks have great depth this year, “so that we can utilize people in a lot of different positions and rotate people so that we have fresh legs.”
Westfield is ranked No. 13 in the first Indiana Soccer Coaches Association girls Class 3A rankings. The Rocks opened their season last Saturday, Aug. 16 with a win over 2A No. 7 Guerin Catholic, then followed it up with a victory over the Tigers, ranked No. 17 in 3A.
Seeing that tough competition is important, as many of Westfield’s players are new this season. Fulkerson said the Shamrocks scored 41 goals last season and 32 of them were scored by the now-graduated seniors.
“Half of our season is ranked at least, probably more than half,” said Fulkerson. “So, it’s good to know that they can step up in those moments. It’s going to prepare them for the postseason even more.”
Fishers is 1-1-1 for the season. The Tigers started with a 4-0 win over McCutcheon last Saturday, then played to a 1-1 tie with Park Tudor on Monday.
“I think they played fine. Was it our best game? No,” said Fishers coach Harold Spooner. “I told the girls, ‘I’m not happy with the result, but I’m not unhappy with the way they played. “They played with a lot of passion, a lot of energy. We just got to clean up some things to create some more chances offensively.”
Westfield travels to McCutcheon Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. game. The Tigers are off until next Wednesday, Aug. 27, when they host 3A No. 15 Zionsville in another conference game.