By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – The Carmel boys lacrosse team will get a chance to defend its Class 2A state championship this weekend.
The Greyhounds rolled into the Indiana High School Lacrosse Association’s 2A title game by beating Center Grove 21-8 Wednesday at Murray Stadium. Carmel got a tough challenge from the Trojans in the first half before breaking away in the second half.
“We basically just had to settle down, stop playing too fast for us, which is a little bit unusual,” said Carmel coach Keith Allen. “Just settle down, take care of the ball, lock down our matchups and basically focus on fundamentals. We started trying to play too fast.”
Carmel held two-goal leads twice during the first quarter, at 3-1 and at 5-3. Center Grove scored before the end of the period, then tied the game at 5-5 just a few seconds into the second quarter.
But the Greyhounds’ Cole Roseman took a faceoff ball right down the field and blasted it into the net, giving Carmel a 6-5 lead. Jackson Weaver scored moments later to put the Hounds up 7-5. The Trojans briefly cut the lead to 7-6, but Carmel ran off four consecutive goals to end the first half, giving the Greyhounds an 11-6 lead.
Carmel sailed through the second half, outscoring Center Grove 10-2. Leo Prosser finished the game with four goals and three assists. Weaver, Charlie Rafalko, Brock Rose and Marsh all added two goals, with Rose and Coulter both handing out two assists. Remarkably, 14 different Greyhounds players scored at least one goal.
“We’ve been preaching that all season, which is trying to get assists, trying to get everyone involved,” said Allen. “Everyone understanding that their only job is to draw slide and then moved the ball.”
Carmel will take on Hamilton Southeastern in the Class 2A state championship game, which takes place at 6 p.m. Saturday at Westfield. The Royals beat Cathedral in the other semifinal game, a score was not available at press time.