Noblesville boys & girls repeat to win state championship
By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
INDIANAPOLIS – Get out the brooms, Noblesville. The Millers have made another soccer sweep.
Noblesville’s boys and girls soccer teams both repeated as Class 3A state champions last Saturday. The Millers boys went first and took care of a dangerous Cathedral team 2-0 to win their third consecutive state title.
The Noblesville girls followed, and they defeated Bloomington South 3-1 to claim their second straight championship and fourth in the past five years. This marks the first time in IHSAA state soccer history that one school has won both boys and girls titles back-to-back.
Boys game
After winning three consecutive games by penalty kicks, a 2-0 score seemed almost leisurely for the Millers boys. That was not the case, of course. Noblesville played on guard throughout the game, as the Millers made sure they were on top of the Irish’s potent offense, including star players Calvin Kurzawa and Fynn Lahrsen.
“Those were the two main guys,” said Noblesville goalkeeper Cole Thompson. He said the back line of Kasole Williams and Keller Willis “locked them down. We had Jake Hall, and then we had Vinny (Howard) come in, and then you had Max (Reason) and (Alex) Pursch in the midfield that just controlled them,” said Thompson.
The Millers’ victory marked only the third time during the season that an opposing team had shut out Cathedral. The Irish had scored at least two goals in all 17 of their wins.
“Our game plan was knowing they’re going to keep one and/or two guys high at all times,” said Noblesville coach Ken Dollaske. “They’re dangerous. We saw what they were able to do to Carmel, we saw what Kurzawa was able to do on counterattacking goals. Honestly, I had all the faith in the worked in Kas Williams and Keller Willis, and they just kept switching off of him and understanding that if he’s not the guy, that he’s going to have a split pass off.”
The Millers helped themselves greatly by scoring a quick goal. Ashton Craig put in an unassisted score during the ninth minute. Noblesville’s second goal came with less than five minutes before halftime: Max Reason sent a kick into the goal box, and Willis put a perfect header into the net.
It was Willis’ first goal of the season and Dollaske said it was a “fantastic time” for him to get that first goal.
“Give us a little breathing room on that one,” said the coach. “He’s been so solid in the back. And the crazy thing with Keller is that, going into this year, we had a plethora of center backs and we actually had him starting in the midfield.”
Dollaske said that Willis transitioned from middle back to center back during the past club season. Then with “about six, seven games in the season, we flipped it. Max Reason and Alex Pursch went into the midfield and Keller went back. He’s been a stud ever since.”
Noblesville also got another incredible effort from goalkeeper Cole Thompson. Cathedral actually outshot the Millers 16-10, and had seven shots on goal to Noblesville’s six. But Thompson was there to save all seven of the Irish’s attempts.
“He decided to have his best game of the season,” said Dollaske. “And he’s had a lot of good games, but he decided to have his best one of the season tonight.”
The coach believes Thompson is the “player of the year in the state of Indiana,” and undoubtedly of the game.
“Without him, without some of his reaction saves, this could’ve been a very different story,” said Dollaske. “We had plenty of opportunities, too, but with how dangerous Kurzawa and Lahrsen and Ian Jackson were, Cole Thompson got us that state championship.”
“I just did my job and then I had the back four and then the midfield, too,” said Thompson. “And then everybody up the field did their job.”
Noblesville’s Cole Thompson won the Mental Attitude Award at the conclusion of the game. (Richie Hall)
Thompson won the Mental Attitude Award at the conclusion of the game.
“I was really more focused on the game, but it’s an awesome achievement,” said Thompson. “I’m so happy I won it.”
“He’s such a good kid on and off the field,” said Dollaske. The coach said when the team was asked about a nominee for the award “I didn’t even think twice of it. It’s like, it’s Cole Thompson or bust.”
The Noblesville boys finished their season 18-0-5. In addition, the Millers became only the second team since the start of IHSAA play in 1994 to win three consecutive boys soccer state titles. North Central is the other team, winning the first three IHSAA state trophies in 1994-95-96.
Girls game
The Noblesville girls found themselves in a precarious position during the first few minutes of the game. Bloomington South scored the first goal, with Katherine Lacy putting in a close kick during the seventh minute.
It was not an unfamiliar feeling, though. The Millers trailed Crown Point 1-0 at the halftime of their semi-state game but came back in the second half to win, so they were confident they could come back.
“We knew they were a good team and we knew what they were going to try to do, and they did it to us early in the game,” said Millers coach Mike Brady. “But this team has been resilient. We were down 1-0 last week. We came back to win and it was the same thing this game.”
“I know that we had been in that situation before,” said Atley Pittman. “We knew what we needed to do to get the result that we wanted. And I definitely think that kind of experience almost reassured us that we could pull it out.”
Noblesville kept pressing and broke through during the 21st minute when Meredith Tippner struck in a powerful goal to get the Millers on the board. Later, Pittman scored the go-ahead goal with 8:13 left in the half, with Tippner making the assist.
“First and foremost, I can’t find those balls if my teammates aren’t there,” said Tippner. The junior said the team has been “putting the practices in,” and the coaches have been “telling us the runs from the film that we watched. We just executed really well from top to bottom today.”
The Panthers only got two shots on goal for the game, both of them coming in the first half. Bella Wyatt made a save with one minute to go before the break.
Wyatt admitted that South’s quick goal “took a little bit of a toll on us, but we just had to keep our heads in the game and just shake it off and move past and act like the score’s still 0-0. We just had to stay in the game. We couldn’t back down.”
Instead, the Millers kept accelerating in the second half. Noblesville added a third goal when Sydney Elliott scored off another Tippner assist. Tippner became only the second player in a 3A state championship game to make two assists.
The Millers are now third on the IHSAA’s all-time girls soccer state championship list with their fourth title. It’s the fifth overall state soccer title, including a pre-IHSAA championship Noblesville won in 1991. The Millers finished their season 17-1-3.
Reporter photos by Julie Brown