For the first time in four years, the Carmel girls soccer team is playing at a regional.
The Greyhounds won the Guerin Catholic sectional last week to earn their spot at this Saturday’s Class 3A Brebeuf Jesuit regional. Carmel will play Metropolitan Conference rival Lawrence North in the noon semi-final, following a battle between two Hoosier Crossroads Conference teams, Avon and Franklin Central, in the 10 a.m. semi-final.
The ‘Hounds are one of three Hamilton County girls soccer teams left in the regional. Fishers will play at the 3A Logansport regional, taking on Harrison in the noon semi-final there, after a 10 a.m. semi-final between two Fort Wayne teams, Homestead and Carroll.
Meanwhile, University is making its second consecutive appearance in a 1A regional. The Trailblazers take on Lafayette Central Catholic in the 10 a.m. semi-final on Saturday, with Eastbrook playing Fort Wayne Canterbury in the noon game.
The Wildcats won at the North Central sectional, their second consecutive championship – and the second in school history. Lawrence North had easy early-round games, beating Southport 5-0 and Lawrence Central 4-0. That put the Wildcats in the final against North Central, and LN was pushed into a shootout before winning, 5-4.
The Wildcats are 14-3-3 for the season, but lost to Carmel 8-0 in the regular season back on Sept. 4. Lawrence North and North Central tied for third in the MIC with 4-2-1 records.
Meanwhile, the Greyhounds (16-1-2) were undefeated MIC champions at 7-0. In the sectional, Carmel beat Brebeuf 3-0, Guerin Catholic 1-0 and Zionsville 2-0 in the final to claim its 15th overall championship.
Junior Emma Antoine and freshman Emily Roper have each scored seven goals for the ‘Hounds. Scoring depth has been a great strength for Carmel, with 17 players getting at least one goal during the season. Sophomore Erin Baker has been solid as the Greyhounds’ goalkeeper, making 39 saves with a 0.187 goals against average (GAA).
The last time Carmel won a sectional was 2014, and it advanced all to the way to the 2A state final (back then, 2A was the highest class), where the Greyhounds met Fishers. The Tigers beat Carmel 1-0 to win their first-ever state championship in that sport.
This year, Fishers is playing in its first regional since 2015, the year the Tigers made it all the way back to the semi-state championship game before falling to Penn. But first things first: Fishers will play Harrison in its regional semi-final. The two teams played back on Sept. 17, with the Tigers winning 7-0.
The Raiders are 11-6-1 for the season and qualified for the regional after winning the Kokomo sectional. Harrison got past McCutcheon 2-1 in the first round, then breezed past Lafayette Jefferson 5-0 and the host Wildkats 4-0 to win the title. Sophomore Lexi Fraley is leading the Raiders’ scoring with 16 goals.
That sectional-winning scenario was the exact opposite for Fishers. The Tigers cruised past Anderson 8-0 in the first round, then had to win two shootouts to claim the Noblesville sectional title – first over the host Millers 6-5 in the semi-finals, then 8-7 over Pendleton Heights in the championship.
Maya Turner leads the Fishers scoring with eight goals, with Kaysey Castro scoring five goals. The Tigers also have two excellent goalkeepers in Jordan Imes and Kaitlyn Hicks, both of whom have stepped up at various points in the season.
University will take on a Lafayette Central Catholic team that had to wait a couple days to win its sectional. Rain pushed the final of the Northwestern sectional back from Saturday to Monday, and the Knights won on that day, beating Faith Christian 2-0. In its earlier games, LCC took care of the host Tigers 4-0 and Rossville 6-1.
The Knights are 15-4 for the season and have three young players that are prolific scorers: Freshman Karsyn Cherry has 20 goals, while sophomores Caroline Lutz and Hailey Fallen have scored 16 and 10 goals respectively.
The Trailblazers are 13-3-2 and cruised through their sectional, beating Tri-Central 6-1, Sheridan 9-0 and Western Boone 5-1. University is senior-dominated, with its top three goal scorers all 12th graders: Lily Snyder has 26 scores, Halle Von Ah has 19 and Lucy Snyder has 14. Junior goalkeeper Lilly Fair has made 104 saves on a 0.365 GAA.
The Fishers girls soccer team celebrated after scoring the tying goal in the championship game of the Noblesville sectional on Saturday. The Tigers eventually beat Pendleton Heights in a shootout, which won them the sectional trophy and a place at the Logansport regional this coming Saturday. (Kent Graham)