THE REPORTER
Hamilton County is guaranteed to have a state champion in girls lacrosse.
All four of the teams that advanced to the state semifinals in the Indiana Girls Lacrosse Association’s state tournament are from the county, as all four won state quarterfinal games last week.
Noblesville advanced to the semifinals by beating Zionsville 9-8. The game began last Friday evening and was stopped after six minutes due to inclement weather and re-started the next day.
Before play was stopped, both teams scored three quick goals within the first two minutes of the game, with Zionsville taking an early lead 2-1. The Millers scored again at 19:46 left in the first half to tie up the game at 2 before the weather forced gameplay to stop with 19:17 left.
Noblesville returned to Zionsville last Saturday morning to finish the game against the Eagles. The first half ended with the Millers up 5-3. Noblesville had balanced first-half scoring with five different players scoring goals. Goalkeeper Adi Terry, didn’t allow another goal in the half until the final minute. Terry collected eight saves in the first half.
The Millers started the second half out strong, scoring two quick goals to increase the lead to 7-3. Zionsville responded with two quick goals of its own to bring the Eagles back within striking distance at 7-5. Down the stretch, Zionsville scored with 32 seconds left in the game to bring the score to 9-8. The Eagles won the ensuing draw control and was able to get a good shot on goal only to have Terry end the game by collecting her 14th save off the day.
Terry had an outstanding game. Along with her saves, she collected three ground balls, one forced turnover and one interception. Scoring was led by Emma Hammond’s hat trick (three goals), Nataley Blackburn contributed two goals and an assist; Chloe Barnett had two goals; Molly Adams had one goal and one assist; Guinnie Salas had one goal; Marisha Woehler had two assists and Kaelyn Seyfried had one assist.
All-county quarterfinal
Carmel won the lone all-county state quarterfinal game, beating Westfield 16-7 last Friday.
Breckin Hare and Sophie Mock both scored four goals for the Greyhounds, with Tori Tomalia adding three. Elizabeth Tomalia had two goals, and Avery Goehl, Megan Houser and AnnMarie McGill each put in one goal.
Tori Tomalia was dominant in draw controls, making 10. Mock and Riley Putnam both had three. Jamie Schlieper had two saves.
Westfield stats were not available.
Saturday victories
The other two state semifinalists punched their tickets to the semifinals with victories last Saturday.
Defending 2A state champion Guerin Catholic cruised past Evansville North 16-4. Clare Alic scored five goals for the Golden Eagles, while Jane Cline added three goals. Gabriella Deer scored two goals, then Lyrric Barnett, Caitlin Carter, Katherine Constantino and Alexandria Soucie all had one goal.
Soucie dished out three assists and had a solid defensive night with five ground balls. Constantino had seven draw controls and collected four ground balls. Ruth Abdalla made six saves.
Hamilton Southeastern beat Penn 12-8 last Saturday to advance to the semis.
Sarah Gastineau led the Royals scoring with five goals, while Evelynn Armstrong and Olivia Bradley both scored two. Reese Bradley added one goal. Armstrong collected four ground balls and Emma Reichert had three draw controls. Kara Jaynes made 10 saves.
State schedule
Both state semifinal games will take place Tuesday, May 30 at Heritage Christian. Carmel and Noblesville will face off at 6 p.m., while Southeastern and Guerin Catholic will play at 8 p.m. The winners advance to the state championship game on Saturday, June 3, also at Heritage Christian.