By RICHIE HALL
The Noblesville and Carmel girls soccer teams played through the rain and held their own against stiff competition during Saturday’s IHSAA semi-state tournament.
As a result, the Millers and the Greyhounds will meet next Saturday for the Class 3A state championship.
In the north semi-state at Kokomo, No. 2-ranked Noblesville got past No. 7 Penn in overtime by the score of 2-1. That put the Millers back at state for the first time since 2008. Down at Evansville North, No. 1 Carmel edged No. 5 Castle 1-0 with a late goal, giving the defending 3A state champions a return ticket to the big game.
“It’s a really cool experience,” said Noblesville’s Sydney Anderson, who scored the game-winning goal for the Millers. “We’ve been really close my freshman and sophomore year. But of course, Penn beat us those years. So it was really cool, being able to finally beat them. They’re a really good team.”
Noblesville and Carmel will face off at 4 p.m. next Saturday for the 3A girls state title. This year’s state soccer games will be played at Fishers High School (see the schedule below).
LATE GOALS
The Millers and the Kingsmen were scoreless at halftime. In the 57th minute, Noblesville took several shots that were deflected away before the ball landed at Jenna Chatterton’s feet. Chatterton took control of the ball, and booted it in from just outside the goal box.
The Millers had what they needed, a 1-0 lead. That advantage held almost all the way to the final buzzer, but Penn stunned Noblesville by scoring with three seconds left. That made the score 1-1, and sent the game to overtime.
“That’s a well-coached team that fought to the bitter end,” said Millers coach Mike Brady. “Could’ve given up, but they didn’t. And they made it real difficult for us to take the next step that we want to take.”
In high school soccer, overtime consists of two seven-minute periods, with the teams switching sides in between. The score remained 1-1 after the first overtime.
With about a minute and a half left in the second overtime, Chatterton collected the ball at midfield and began driving down the field. The Kingsmen kicked the ball in the other direction, but Ava Bramblett found it and booted it toward the goal. The ball made its way into the goal box, where Anderson kicked it in to give the Millers the lead with 1:11 left. Noblesville held off Penn from that point forward.
“Honestly, I just kept following Jenna’s run,” said Anderson. “I saw her headed up and I knew if I just followed and finished that it would be in.”
“That was us fighting to the end,” said Brady, whose team improved to 16-0-3 for the season and won the program’s third semi-state title. “We had already started talking about penalty kicks, and who was going to take them if it went that far. But our girls weren’t going to give up at that point. They fought.”
Down at Evansville, the Greyhounds also played to a scoreless tie at halftime. But Carmel’s Olivia Fray scored with 14 minutes left to play, and the ‘Hounds held on from there.
Carmel is now 18-0-3 for the season. The Greyhounds also won their record-extending 12th semi-state championship.
BOYS GAMES
The Noblesville boys soccer team was trying to make it a Millers sweep at Kokomo. But a determined Lake Central team had other plans, beating No. 8 Noblesville 2-1 to end the Millers’ season.
The boys game was also scoreless at halftime. The Indians quickly took the lead at the beginning of the second half, getting their first goal just 18 seconds in. Noblesville tied the game in the 49th minute on a penalty kick by Jack Miller, but Lake Central scored six minutes later to take back the lead, and would keep it until the buzzer.
“They had a game plan for us,” said Millers coach Ken Dollaske. “They knew all of our good players. They had that in the bag. So kudos to Lake Central for playing a really good game. It’s just tough.”
Noblesville finished its season with a 16-3-2 record.
Guerin Catholic played the 2A south semi-state against Evansville Memorial at Evansville North. The No. 2 Tigers beat the No. 5 Golden Eagles in a penalty kick shootout to advance to the state championship game.
Memorial scored the first goal during the game’s sixth minute, but Guerin Catholic answered a few minutes later, with Joseph Lafiosca putting the equalizer in the net. That tied the game with 30:10 left to go, and the score remained 1-1 at halftime.
Neither team scored in the second half, so it was on to overtime. The first extra period was scoreless, but the Golden Eagles seemed to have things in hand when Bryce Dolenc scored with 1:01 left in the second OT.
The Tigers answered just 27 seconds later, however, so the overtime ended at 2-2. That sent the game to the shootout, where Memorial won 3-2.
Guerin Catholic finished its season 13-6-3.
The Noblesville girls soccer team won the Class 3A north semi-state at Kokomo on Saturday, holding off Penn in overtime 2-1. The Millers qualified for next Saturday’s 3A state championship game and will take on Carmel at Fishers High School. (Richie Hall)
Carmel earned its spot in the 3A state championship game by winning the south semi-state title Saturday at Evansville North. The Greyhounds beat Castle 1-0 and will take on Noblesville next Saturday at Fishers. (Photo courtesy Carmel Athletics)