By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – The Noblesville girls soccer team advanced to the regional final on Wednesday with a 5-0 semifinal win over Harrison at Hallmark Orthodontics Soccer Complex.
The Class 3A No. 2-ranked Millers got on the board relatively quickly: Meredith Tippner put in Noblesville’s first goal during the sixth minute. The Millers steadily added to their lead in the first half to go up 4-0 at halftime.
Sophie Hedges scored Noblesville’s second goal in the 14th minute, then Brooklyn Gibbons found the net in the 25th minute, with Tippner making the assist. Corynn Fleck scored in the 39th minute, then scored again during the second half off an assist by Katelyn Keenan.
“We knew what was on the line this evening and we knew we’d see a different Harrison team than we saw earlier,” said Millers coach Mike Brady. Noblesville played Harrison Sept. 14 and won that game 3-0.
“But we came out and played like we were capable of,” said Brady. “We still have things to work on and get better for Saturday. But I thought every player that got in the game put forth the effort and we made that step in the right direction this evening.”
The Millers improved to 16-0-2 for the season. Noblesville travels to Kokomo on Saturday for the regional championship game where it will face No. 8 Homestead for the title at 2 p.m. The Spartans beat Fort Wayne Carroll 4-0 Wednesday in the other semifinal.
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Third-ranked Carmel won its Class 3A regional semifinal game on Wednesday, beating Brownsburg 1-0 at the Bulldogs’ field.
Olivia Cebalo scored the Greyhounds goal with 12 minutes left in the first half. Vaughn Rohrbacher made the assist.
Carmel is 15-3-2 and hosts the regional championship on Saturday. The Greyhounds will play No. 12-ranked East Central at 2 p.m.; the Trojans beat Franklin Central 4-0 in Wednesday’s semifinal.