The REPORTER
The Hamilton Southeastern girls soccer team kept the Mudsock trophy on Wednesday, beating Fishers 3-0 in the annual game, which took place this year at the Tigers’ football field.
The Class 3A No. 1 Royals led 1-0 at halftime. Sloane May scored the goal about 10 minutes into the game, with Blair Satterfield making the assist. May assisted Anna Tittle, who scored Southeastern’s second goal, then May put in the third goal to finish the scoring. Alyssa Damson made the assist.
“The first few minutes, we did not play well, and Fishers came down, got a shot off, got a corner kick, that my goalie had to actually make the save,” said Royals coach Greg Davidson. That goalkeeper was Hailey Wade.
“After that, we settled in,” said Davidson. The coach said he thought that “Fishers and HSE had a really good first half. The second half, HSE took over, which was good for us, especially how well Fishers had played in the first half.”
The game was also a Hoosier Crossroads Conference contest, and the Royals are 5-0 in the league. Southeastern is 10-0-1 overall and hosts two games on Saturday, against Crown Point at 11:30 a.m. and Fort Wayne Carroll at 4:30 p.m.
The Tigers are 0-3-1 in conference and 1-6-1 overall and hosts Franklin Central Saturday morning in another HCC game.
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Noblesville and Westfield played to a 1-1 HCC tie on Wednesday in a game at the Shamrocks’ field that featured two top 10 3A teams.
After a scoreless first half, the No. 4-ranked Millers broke through less than two minutes into the second half when Meredith Tippner kicked in a goal.
“I think we’re in this middle phase where we’re starting to figure out the importance of possession and how we can build from the back to our front and start to see those through balls. And I think at the beginning of the season, we’re still trying to figure out our identity, but we’re starting to get closer and closer, and now it’s to the point where we’re playing pretty well, but we got to finish the game at 80 minutes.”
No. 7-ranked Westfield had several big shots that just missed, but put in the equalizer with 7:17 to go. Reese Sargent scored off an assist by Kate Malin. It was the first goal that the ‘Rocks had scored on Noblesville in several years.
“It’s amazing and it’s so refreshing,” said Sargent. “We’ve worked hard all season, and it’s just so exciting to see it come together.”
“I thought we did well,” said Westfield coach Hannah Eggert. “We went down early in the second half, and I felt like the rest of the half, we really went back at them and I think we had the better chances. The crossbar saved a few, but I think the second half, we definitely came back out and worked really hard to get back in the game.”
Noblesville’s Sydney Elliott (2) and Westfield’s Aryana Ali chase after the ball during the Millers-Shamrocks game at Westfield. The contest ended in a 1-1 tie. (Richie Hall)
The result was the first time the Shamrocks had tied Noblesville since 2018, when the teams played to a scoreless tie. That year was Eggert’s first as the Westfield coach; she is a Noblesville graduate and played soccer for the Millers.
“Hannah’s doing wonderful things with this program, the culture of Westfield,” said Millers coach Mike Brady, Eggert’s former coach.
“We’ve really worked hard in building up a positive culture,” said Eggert. “The girls seem like they’re having a lot of fun. We’ve really worked with our forwards on that interchangeable movement, and we’ve seen that in these games. We’ve scored a lot of goals this season and our backline has done well. And Kate Pallante has done well with keeping the ball out of the back of the net, too, so we’re starting to see a lot of success.”
Westfield is 2-0-2 in conference play and 5-0-2 overall. The Shamrocks play at North Central on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Noblesville is 1-1-2 in HCC play and 5-1-2 overall.
“I feel like every day we’re taking that step forward,” said Brady. His team plays Saturday at Harrison.
“We know we didn’t play our best and we’re just going to have to keep working hard in practice, and the results will come,” said Brady.
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Sheridan’s girls team cruised to a 7-0 win over Tri-Central Wednesday in a Hoosier Heartland Conference game.
Mac Smith got the Blackhawks on the board four minutes into the game, scoring off an assist by Cecilia Timme. Sheridan continued to roll from there, leading 4-0 at halftime. Freshman Brielle Garner wound up with two goals, while Smith, Ji Warren and Norah Stites all scored one. Sadie Timme, Isabel Nunez, Cecilia Timme and Warren all had one assist.
Sheridan is 2-0 in conference play and 4-2-1 overall. The ‘Hawks play another conference game tonight at Delphi.
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In Tuesday night boys games, Fishers won the Mudsock trophy by beating Hamilton Southeastern 2-1. The game was called at halftime due to lightning.
Kyle Clayton scored the Tigers’ first goal, but the Royals’ Cruz Jafri tied it up with a penalty kick. Fishers got the lead back a minute later when Ethan Laboy scored, with Reid Spittler making the assist.
The Tigers are 4-2-2 and play tonight at Pendleton Heights, while the Royals are 4-3-2 and also play tonight at Guerin Catholic.
Meanwhile, Noblesville beat Westfield 2-0 in the Millers’ annual Megan S. Ott Pink Out game. Blake Horn sent a cross to Vinny Howard, who kicked a half volley into the net for the first goal.
Noblesville led 1-0 at halftime. In the second half, Brady Frayer took the ball to the endline on the left flank, the kicked a cross across the box. The ball was deflected to Sam Holland, and he kicked it in.
The Millers are 5-0-5 and host Southport tonight. The Shamrocks are 3-4 and are off until next Tuesday when they host Hamilton Southeastern.