By RICHIE HALL
The girls soccer clash between Hamilton Southeastern and Noblesville Wednesday at White River Elementary School ended in a 1-1 tie.
But that was enough for the to win the Hoosier Crossroads Conference championship. Class 3A No. 1 Southeastern finished HCC play with a 6-0-1 record, putting it just ahead of the 3A No. 2 Millers, who completed their conference schedule at 5-0-2.
“It’s hard to celebrate a tie,” said HSE coach Greg Davidson. “But the tie did win us the conference championship and obviously that’s one of the goals that the girls had set for themselves, because they lost the conference last year when they were in the lead. It was something they really wanted to get back and so I’m really proud of them for winning the conference in the best conference in the state of Indiana.”
Noblesville broke through with 20:17 left in the second half, when Cecilia Goad made a nice free kick into the goal. But the Royals struck back immediately: Brown kicked the ball in from 10 yards just 27 seconds after the Millers’ goal. The score would stay 1-1 until the final horn.
“It’s things we practice,” said Davidson. “How quickly can we score if we get scored on? And it’s something that we are very dedicated to and we all year long have done an amazing job of scoring almost immediately after another team scores. Proud of them that they continued that trend.”
The Royals finished the regular season 12-1-2, while the Millers finished 8-1-5. The two teams will meet again Tuesday in the first round of the Noblesville sectional.
Westfield finished HCC play Wednesday with a 1-0 victory over Avon.
Lauren Hamlet scored the Shamrocks’ goal off a corner kick from senior Rianna Evans. Goalkeepers Libby Rismiller, Catie Cochran, Catherine Parisi and Alli Koontz combined to keep a clean sheet.
Westfield tied for third in the conference standings with Brownsburg, as both teams completed their HCC campaigns with 4-2-1 records. The ‘Rocks are 6-7-2 overall and will play Zionsville next Thursday, Oct. 4, in the semi-finals of the Guerin Catholic sectional.
Carmel, ranked No. 4 in 3A, won an undefeated Metropolitan Conference championship on Wednesday by beating 3A No. 10 Center Grove 1-0 at Murray Stadium.
The Greyhounds scored their goal in the 53rd minute when Cassidy Eckstein put in a rebound of her own shot. Carmel goalkeepers Erin Baker and Autumn Ackerman both had one save.
“Senior night is always tough on a team, with emotions running high as the senior players finally realize that they will never play another home game for their school,” said Greyhounds coach Frank Dixon. “Often this can lead to a very uneven game with little team play and lots of individual effort. This group of players, for most of the evening, didn’t fall into that trap.”
Carmel finished MIC play 7-0 and the regular season 13-1-2. Next up is the Guerin Catholic sectional, where the Greyhounds will play Brebeuf Jesuit on Tuesday.
Noblesville’s Cecilia Goad (12) scored the Millers’ goal in their 1-1 tie with Hamilton Southeastern Wednesday at White River Elementary School. Also pictured is HSE’s Bri Straus (20) and Taylor Pozzebon (19) and Noblesville’s Carly Hudnall (6). (Kent Graham)
Hamilton Southeastern’s Layla Brown (9) scored the equalizer for the Royals, tying the game at 1-1. Also pictured is Noblesville’s Brooke Hines (20). (Kent Graham)