The Hamilton Southeastern girls soccer team won its Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener on Wednesday, beating Franklin Central 1-0.
The Class 3A No. 5 Royals scored 10 minutes into the game. Ella Chester got the goal, with Daniella Rios-Rojas providing the assist.
“In the HCC, a win is hard to come by so we will take it,” said Southeastern coach Greg Davidson.
The Royals are 1-0-1 and play this weekend at the South Bend St. Joseph Invitational. Southeastern takes on Munster Friday night, then gets two ranked teams, 3A No. 12 Penn and 3A No. 10 St. Joseph on Saturday.
In the HCC opener for both teams, 3A No. 15 Westfield and 3A No. 18 Fishers played to a 0-0 tie Wednesday at the Shamrocks’ field.
Both teams had opportunities to score, but both teams also had defenses that played well. The goalkeepers for each team, Westfield’s Zoe McKinney and the Tigers’ Maria Okuszki, each made big saves.
“We knew they were going to be a challenge for sure,” said Fishers coach Harold Spooner. “Westfield’s a really good team. I thought we played really well. I told them they got nothing to hang their heads about. Wish we could’ve put one in at some point, but I felt like we did a lot of things right.”
“I think we played well,” said Shamrocks coach Hannah Eggert. “We have a lot of new kids on the field and we had some chances, Fishers had some great chances. I think it was pretty even. We’re impressed with how hard the girls played.”
Both teams are back in action Saturday morning. Westfield (1-0-1) hosts Plainfield while Fishers (2-0-1) welcomes Franklin Central in another conference contest.
Guerin Catholic played 3A No. 6 to a 0-0 tie in a Wednesday away game.
It was the season opener for the Golden Eagles, last year’s Class 3A state runners-up. Guerin Catholic goes back on the road Friday night to play at 3A No. 2 Carmel.