The Noblesville boys soccer team put on an overwhelming performance against an old rival Thursday night at White River Elementary School.
The Millers stunned Carmel 5-0. Not only was this a big all-county game, but both teams are ranked in the top 10 in Class 3A. Noblesville is third, while the Greyhounds are seventh. The Millers improved to 2-0 with the win, while Carmel dropped to 1-1, this after winning its season-opener last Saturday over No. 1-ranked Zionsville.
Noblesville poured in three goals during the first 20 minutes of the game. Drew Barnes scored in the eighth minute, with Spencer Holland making the assist. One minute later, Garrett Poynter converted a penalty kick. Then in the game’s 18th minute, Holland got his second assist of the night, sending a ball to Palmer Ault, who scored.
Ault was just getting started. He gave the Millers a 4-0 lead with a goal in the 32nd minute. Ault also scored the lone second-half goal, with Holland again making an assist. That gave Ault a scoring hat trick (three goals) and Holland three assists.
Even after his team went up 4-0 at halftime, Noblesville coach Ken Dollaske told his team, “The next goal is going to be the difference.” The Millers kept up the defensive intensity, with goalkeeper Gabe Ingle making several big saves to preserve the shutout.
“So, if Carmel gets one, they might get a little bit of confidence, and so at that point, there was no letdown,” said Dollaske. “Really proud of the starters, but also proud of the bench, too, because they understood when it was their time to get out on the field, they didn’t have any letdown in terms of energy.”
“We just got to keep the intensity high and make sure that we’re coming in each and every day,” said Ault. “We’re going to give it a 100 percent effort in practice and games and the results will show.”
Despite the loss, Greyhounds coach Shane Schmidt was proud of the fact that his team kept battling.
“When you’re down 4-nil in a game like that, it’s easy to give up,” said Schmidt. “You just saw it at the world class level last week when Bayern Munich beat Barcelona. Barcelona started getting down further and further, they gave up, and those are world-class players who get paid millions of dollars a year. So credit to my high school guys, that they stuck with it.”
Noblesville opens Hoosier Crossroads Conference play on Tuesday with a game at Avon. Carmel returns home to Brian Murray Stadium Saturday morning to play 3A No. 10 Hamilton Southeastern.
In a Wednesday girls game, 3A No. 3 Hamilton Southeastern beat Franklin Central 2-1 in its Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener.
Maddie Bellaver got the Royals on the board less than four minutes into the game, when she scored off an Olivia Smith assist. Bellaver then added Southeastern’s second goal four minutes into the second half, with Lauren Ellinger making the assist. Bellaver was the Player of the Game for the Royals.
Southeastern is 1-1 with the victory and will host its own HSE Invitational Saturday morning.