Hamilton County boys soccer will have a good presence in Saturday’s sectional finals, as teams reached the championship game at four different sites.
That includes an all-county affair at Noblesville’s White River Elementary School field. The host and No. 8-ranked Millers got to the final first at Class 3A Sectional 8, beating No. 13 Fishers 3-1 in the first Wednesday semi-final game. In the second semi-final, No. 15 Hamilton Southeastern defeated Muncie Central 12-0.
Noblesville got on the board first in the opening semi-final, with Spencer Holland scoring in the 11th minute. That would be the only goal of the first half. In the second half, Palmer Ault got the Millers ahead 2-0 in the 53rd minute, with Drew Barnes making the assist.
The Tigers scored their goal six minutes later, with Cam O’Connor getting the ball in the net. But Noblesville answered right away, with Harrison Christman scoring seconds later off an Andy Standfield assist, completing the scoring.
Millers coach Ken Dollaske said his team played very well overall.
“Started a little bit slow in the first half,” said Dollaske. “Our goal was more on a counter. I thought Fishers dominated the first 20, 25 minutes of the game, but then after that we settled in and I think we really showed what kind of team we were.”
Noblesville is 13-2-2 for the season, while Fishers finished 12-5.
The Royals led 7-0 at halftime, then added five more goals in the second half. Kam Greenwald and Jack Hyatt both scored twice for Southeastern, with eight other players scoring one goal: Brenden Hench, Kuljit Mann, Chase Hatfield, Isa Sayeed, Parker Gopsill, Sam Kay, Harsahil Gandham and Matt Weaver.
“At this time of year, you always got to respect everyone, because an off night puts you at home for the season,” said Royals coach Chris White.
Mann, Weaver, Hatfield and Gopsill all had assists.
“Overall it was a good night for us,” said White. “Now it’s about getting ready for a re-match with Noblesville.”
Southeastern is 10-4-2 and will play the Millers at 7 p.m. Saturday for the Sectional 8 championship.
The most exciting game of the day went to University, who went into a penalty kick shootout with Scecina in Class 1A Sectional 40 at Park Tudor.
The No. 2 Trailblazers and the No. 3 Crusaders were tied 1-1 after regulation and overtime, sending the game into the dreaded PKs. University made all five of their kicks, starting with Jake Malinzak, a 5-foot freshman who hadn’t played in the game. But he made the first one, and the ‘Blazers were on their way.
University seniors Evan Coveney, Jacob Masoncup, Quentin Berry and Rhett Offenbacker all made their penalty kicks. Scecina made its first four, but senior goalkeeper Jacob Sager deflected the fifth kick away, giving the Trailblazers the 5-4 shootout win. (The official score is 2-1.)
“I just kept thinking back to the season and all my memories with these guys,” said Sager. “That really motivated me just to calm down and try and do my best for them, because they’ve done their best for me throughout the entire year. I’m really grateful for the opportunity and happy that we pulled through.”
Berry scored University’s goal during the regulation part of the game.
“We did the same thing two years ago against Heritage, almost the same situation, hit all five and the goalkeeper made the last save,” said UHS coach Wes Priest. “A lot of the guys were on that team. They remembered that before we went out. It is what it is. You hit, you don’t, it’s okay, we uplift each other if we miss. If we win, that’s awesome.”
The Trailblazers are 11-2-4 and play No. 1 Park Tudor in Saturday’s 2 p.m. championship game. The Panthers beat International 14-0 in the other semi-final.
Fifth-ranked Guerin Catholic advanced to the final at Class 2A Sectional 26 at Brebeuf Jesuit by beating Western Boone 11-0 on Wednesday.
The Golden Eagles led 8-0 at halftime. Guerin Catholic improved to 10-3-3 after the win and will play the sectional host Braves on Saturday. Brebeuf upset No. 18 Lebanon 1-0 in the other semi-final.
Class 1A Sectional 37 host Sheridan advanced to the championship with a 3-1 victory over Taylor on Wednesday.
The Blackhawks scored all three of their goals in the first half. Sheridan is now 7-7-2 for the season and hosts Liberty Christian on Saturday for the sectional title. The Lions beat Anderson Prep 4-2 in the other semi-final.
No. 14 Carmel gave No. 1 Zionsville a good fight at Class 3A Sectional 10 at Pike on Wednesday before the Eagles won 2-1.
Senior Noah Green scored the Greyhounds’ goal. The game was tied at 1-1 at the half, but Zionsville scored the go-ahead goal in the second half.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the boys tonight and all season,” said Carmel coach Shane Schmidt, whose team finished the year 9-4-3. “We played extremely hard, our team defense was solid, and we moved the ball well.”
Fishers’ Angel Roque Granados (left) and Noblesville’s Bryan Diaz battle for the ball during the Tigers-Millers sectional semi-final game Wednesday at White River Elementary School. Noblesville won 3-1 to advance to Saturday’s sectional championship. (Kent Graham)
Hamilton Southeastern’s Isa Sayeed (18) makes a play during the Royals’ sectional semi-final game with Muncie Central on Wednesday. Southeastern beat the Bearcats 12-0 to advance to the sectional championship. Also pictured is Sam Kay (21). (Kent Graham)