By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
Sectionals will always take a hotly contested rivalry and amp it up about a million times.
Example: Hamilton Southeastern and Fishers girls soccer.
The No. 7-ranked Royals and the No. 16 Tigers battled it out Tuesday in the first round of Class 3A Sectional 8 at Southeastern. The Royals won 4-2, but needed a late goal from freshman Izzie Wallace to be assured a spot in Thursday’s semi-finals.
“It was very timely, too,” said HSE coach Greg Davidson of Wallace’s score, which came with 6:20 left in the game. “The wind started picking up. They were able to play some direct balls. We had a couple girls that went down with little injuries or pre-emptive stuff.”
Southeastern led 2-1 at halftime. Molly Harris got the Royals on the board with 12 minutes left in the first half. Gretchen Mills tied the game in the 36th minute for Fishers, but Madison Dalton scored two minutes later, getting HSE the halftime lead.
Another quick exchange took place early in the second half. Layla Brown’s goal put HSE ahead 3-1 five minutes into the half, then Dianna Rollag brought Fishers back to within 3-2 a little over a minute later. The game continued at a tense pace until Wallace finally scored.
“Ben, he’s a great coach,” said HSE coach Greg Davidson. “He always has his team hyped up. They’ve obviously proven themselves in the tournament for the last few years, and so it’s an honor to beat their team.”
The Royals will play Pendleton Heights in the first semi-final, followed by a contest between fifth-ranked Noblesville and Anderson.
Carmel won its sectional opener Tuesday night at Guerin Catholic.
The No. 3 Greyhounds got past No. 10 Zionsville 1-0. Carmel got its goal in the 53rd minute when Emily Speidel found the back of the net unassisted. Speidel kicked a ball from about 25 yards that had just enough to spin over the hand of the Eagles’ goalkeeper.
Emily Melchi had nine goalkeeper saves.
“It’s great to get that out of the way,” said Carmel coach Frank Dixon. “We’ve got a pretty good rivalry going in the sectionals, back and forth. “They beat us maybe when we should’ve won, and we’ve beaten them when maybe they should’ve won.”
Next up for the Greyhounds is No. 2 Brebeuf Jesuit, which will be the second semi-final on Thursday. No. 4 Guerin Catholic and Westfield will play the opener at 5 p.m.
Hamilton Heights beat Jay County 2-1 Tuesday in first-round play at Class 2A Sectional 24 at Yorktown.
Amanda Irwin and Madi Hasler scored one goal each for the Huskies, with Emily Stirn and Katy Beery each making one assist. Tessa Harr had nine goalkeeper saves.
Heights will play host Yorktown at 7 p.m. Thursday in the evening’s second semi-final.
Sheridan, hosting Class 1A Sectional 37, fell to Western Boone 3-1 in Tuesday’s first round.
Makenna Hammack scored the goal for the Blackhawks in the second half. Sheridan ended its season with a 6-7-3 record.
“We just improved on a few things, had a better win-loss record,” said ‘Hawks coach Kurtis Olsan. The coach said his team worked on fundamentals, and as a result Sheridan saw “some of our ties going to wins, some of our losses going to ties.”
University is also playing at Sheridan; the Trailblazers will take on Tipton in the first semi-final at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Carmel’s Naomi Mann takes the ball down the field during the Greyhounds’ first-round sectional game with Zionsville Tuesday at Guerin Catholic. Carmel won 1-0 and plays Brebeuf Jesuit in Thursday’s semi-finals.
More game images can be found at: https://capturephotographybydkirk.smugmug.com/Carmel-vs-Z-Ville-G-V-Sectional (Kirk Green)