By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – Here we go again.
For the fifth time since 2016, the top-ranked Class 3A Hamilton Southeastern Royals and the No. 2 Noblesville Millers will meet in the sectional finals.
For the ninth straight postseason, the defending state champion Millers (14-0-2) will seek to end the No. 1 nationally ranked Royals (15-0-3) IHSAA state tournament hopes.
With the Sectional 8 finals set for 2 p.m. this Saturday at the Noblesville Hallmark Orthodontics Soccer Complex, both Hoosier Crossroads Conference programs took care of the business during Thursday night’s semifinal round to usher in the ninth consecutive in-season rematch.
In the first semifinal game on Thursday, Noblesville defeated No. 16 Mt. Vernon 5-1 with five different players recording at least one goal.
Hamilton Southeastern defeated Pendleton Heights 4-0 after winning the regular-season meeting 6-0 on Sept. 23.
“We want to continue to put our best foot forward and play our game. I feel like we’re peaking at the right time. I love how this team is playing, and we have a lot of confidence in this team,” HSE head coach Greg Davidson said.
“Their intensity and level of play no matter what defensive scheme that we saw was good. I’m proud of the girls. They didn’t change how they wanted to play, which I think is key going into a sectional championship.”
The Royals built a 2-0 lead over the Arabians (8-9-1) with goals scored from Kaylan Hoener assisted by Blair Satterfield in the 10th minute before Sloane May found Kate Noel for her first of two goals in the 32nd minute.
Noel’s second goal off a corner-kick assist by Jacqueline Lance in the 57th minute made it 3-0, followed by a Gracie Pyle assist to May for her 10th goal on the season in the 69th minute.
Prior to their shutout of Pendleton Heights, the Royals blanked No. 18 Fishers 5-0 to reach the sectional finals where they’ll face Noblesville for the first time since 2020 with everything on the line.
The teams battled to a 1-1 draw on Aug. 31 on the same pitch. The Millers led 1-0 off an Atley Pittman free-kick goal in the 71st minute before HSE scored the equalizer in the 77th minute.
“There won’t be (a tie). We’ve had a couple of games where we were like, ‘Man, like to get that tie back,’ so here’s another opportunity,” Davidson said. “You’ve got the two best teams in the state, and the only two teams that have been unbeaten, so it’s a huge game for both programs.”
However, while Noblesville is ranked third nationally behind HSE, Davidson doesn’t feel his Royals are the favorite. Not with the Millers winning back-to-back state titles and four of the last five in 3A.
“Noblesville has the weight of the world. They’re the defending state champions. They’re very good, and they’re unbeaten. We’re very good, and we really like our team,” Davidson said.
The Millers led Mt. Vernon 3-0 by halftime and added two more goals in the second half. Pittman put the Millers in front off a Meredith Tippner assist in the eighth minute before Lily Ault made it 2-0 in the 13th minute off an assist by Pittman.
Kendall Kramer’s first-career goal in the 26th minute made it a 3-0 advantage.
“I saw an open shot, and it was great. I did not expect it. I really didn’t mean to take a shot, but I did. I meant to just put it over the top,” Kramer said. “It feels amazing. It made my night, for sure.”
Tippner tallied her 19th goal of the season in the 44th minute and Delaney Stone buried a goal in the 46th minute before Mt. Vernon erased the shutout bid late.
“The ultimate goal is just to play another game. Again, we should have beaten this team tonight, but you never know. I think we came out with the energy to play our game, but we’re going to have to be better in 36 hours because that’s a really good Hamilton Southeastern team,” Millers head coach Mike Brady said.
“The team I have is totally committed to that end goal, and the goal has to be a state title, but we know we can’t look past anyone. We didn’t look past Mt. Vernon tonight, and there’s no way you can look past HSE. Again, nothing is for certain.”
History favors the Millers, however.
In 2020, the teams tied 0-0 in the regular season before the Millers won 2-1 in the sectional finals. In 2019, Noblesville won 2-1 in conference play and 3-1 in the sectional title game. In 2017, a 3-2 regular-season win led to a 1-0 finals victory. In 2016, Noblesville swept the series 3-2 and 1-0 in the finals.
HSE beat Noblesville 3-2 in the regular season in 2023 for the first time since 2014 but hasn’t won against its top foe in the playoffs during that time frame.
“That’s the battle between our two clubs and being in the same conference, being in the same sectional. It’s a great thing to be a part of,” Tippner said. “Again, the fans, the communities want to see great soccer being played, and we get to see them earlier in the season, and we often find them again later in the season.”
In the past three postseason meetings, the Millers have prevailed twice in the semifinals and once in the quarterfinals by margins of one goal.
“Often the effort you put in and the little things you get better at are a lot of times the difference in those big games,” Tippner said. “We feel confident in ourselves, and again, you have to go out and put on a performance in order to go on to regional.”