By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – It was by far the biggest goal of the year for the Guerin Catholic girls soccer team.
Sumski
Senior Ella Sumski got to start for the Class 2A No. 6 Golden Eagles in their Senior Night game against 1A No. 1 Heritage Christian Tuesday at the Eagles Nest. And did she ever make the most of it: Sumski scored her first-ever goal within the first minute of the game.
“To be honest, it was all kind of a blur,” said Sumski. “I think Kylie (Harrison) passed to me, and it was just like a Hail Mary moment, where I just took the shot and I was like ‘I think this is going to go in,’ and toss it over and it was right over her head. It was really, really spectacular.”
From there, Guerin Catholic cruised through the other 79 minutes of the game, which ended in a 3-0 Circle City Conference victory for the Golden Eagles. Guerin finished conference play with a 3-1 record.
Mia Gatz scored a goal for the Golden Eagles late in the first half. (Mike Navarro)
Golden Eagles coach Sean Yau said that first goal symbolizes the senior class that’s leading the 2A defending champions. Yau said “the amount of faith and love that they showed within each other culminated in Ella Sumski, who never scored all four years, and then on Senior Night, of all times, to score the game winner against a really good Heritage Christian team. That’s pretty much the epitome of our senior class.”
Guerin Catholic picked up its second goal in the 29th minute when University of Cincinnati recruit Mia Gatz scored. Annie DeBone added GC’s third goal midway through the second half.
“Once we knew that we got the lead pretty quickly, everybody’s intensity started to grow,” said Sumski. “We wanted to keep that energy up throughout the game just so we could continue to dominate.”
Heritage is 5-4 for the season, but the Eagles play a tough schedule that consists of mostly 2A and 3A teams. Heritage played two 1A teams earlier in the season, but both are ranked: Oldenburg Academy is No. 4 and Sheridan is No. 8.
Yau pointed out that Heritage beat two top 10 ranked 2A teams in conference opponents Bishop Chatard and Roncalli, “so, it’s not like they were a pushover or anything,” he said.
“So, our Senior Night to be on tonight against a pretty formidable opponent and for us to get a 3-nothing result, again, is just a testament to how these girls train every single day and how much they love each other,” said Yau.
Meanwhile, Guerin Catholic has won five of its last six games, turning an 0-2-2 start into a solid 5-3-2 record as the regular season begins to wind up. The Golden Eagles have played a tough schedule as well, and that continues Saturday when they host 3A No. 2 Evansville Memorial at the Eagles Nest.
Next week, Guerin Catholic takes on more ranked 3A teams in Cathedral and Center Grove, then travels to 2A No. 1 South Bend St. Joseph on Sept. 28. All of this will be preparation for the postseason, where the Golden Eagles hope to defend their state championship.
“To help us prepare for the intensity and the mentality of the postseason, like playing a team like Heritage – and on a night where we could have gotten distracted – and for us to be very focused on getting the result and very focused on celebrating our seniors at the same time will really help us during the postseason to mentally focus together when we get to the tournament,” said Yau.