By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
The Mudsock game is challenging enough, but the Hamilton Southeastern boys soccer team had to embrace a second challenge Tuesday night when hosting its rival Fishers.
The Royals entered the game as the No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A. Southeastern did indeed embrace both challenges, soaring to a 5-1 victory over the Tigers. The win keeps the Royals undefeated for the season at 7-0.
“HSE’s never been ranked No. 1, so these players have never experienced it,” said Royals coach Chris White. “So we’re embracing it. It was something they’ve wanted to have. Coming out and getting a goal early helped settle things.”
White said he thought it helped that his team’s first game as No. 1 was against Fishers, so the Royals had to be ready for their big rival – “you had to be prepared, no arrogance about it,” said the coach.
The game was played in front of a packed Royals soccer stadium.
“It’s a fun rivalry,” said HSE coach Chris White. “Emotions are high. I thought first half we played with a lot of emotion and let the emotion control us. We didn’t play very smart. I thought second half we played like we’re capable of. Did some really nice things. Our seniors led the way.”
One of those seniors is Matt Kuster, who scored three of the Royals’ five goals. He got the first goal early in the first half, and that 1-0 score would be the halftime margin. Kuster quickly got two more goals in the back of the net in the second half to put his team ahead by the comfortable margin of 3-0.
“It’s my senior year,” said Kuster, who noted that this was his first-ever “hat trick.”
“I want it to be the best moment of my high school career,” he said. “It was great, it was phenomenal.”
“He’s one of our emotional leaders,” said White. “He’s our leading scorer last year. Him and Darian Ghaffari, two up top for us, are having phenomenal years. Every game, the different one steps up. He had a great game and a lot of it is just effort and just finishing it. That’s kind of how he plays all the time.”
Fishers got on the board around the middle of the second half when Zach Peskin placed a free kick into the net. But the Royals responded right away, with Chayton Davidson and Toni Vrkic scoring two goals in a matter of minutes.
“This group is a great group of guys,” said White. “They’re very competitive. So it’s not something you have to say.”
Tigers coach Robbie Pels said his team looked good in the first half after Southeastern scored its fast goal.
“The rest of the first half, I thought we looked really threatening,” said Pels. “I thought we looked really threatening, and just couldn’t break through. They organized at halftime, come out and get another goal. And I think after that, our heads dropped. Being away, pressure of the rivalry, our heads dropped, and they’re too good. They’re too good, they took advantage of that and they put four more in the back of the net in 10 minutes. I’m happy with our first-half performance, but we got a lot of work to do.”
Both teams are back in action on Thursday. The Royals travel to Kokomo, while the Tigers host Brebeuf Jesuit.
Hamilton Southeastern principal Matt Kegley (far right) presents the Royals’ boys soccer team with the Mudsock Trophy after HSE beat Fishers 5-1 in the Mudsock game Tuesday night. (Kirk Green)