This year’s IHSAA Class 3A girls soccer state championship game will also determine bragging rights for the city of Noblesville.
Saturday’s highly-anticipated 3A final will see Noblesville High School take on Guerin Catholic in the biggest game of the year. The Millers and the Golden Eagles will play in the prime time slot, at 8 p.m., at Fishers High School.
Noblesville comes in as the defending 3A state champion, while Guerin is making its second appearance in the final game. The Golden Eagles played in the 3A final back in 2017, the first year for three-class soccer, where they fell to Penn.
The top-ranked Millers are 16-0-1 for the season. The tie came from No. 5 Hamilton Southeastern, as the two teams played to a scoreless draw on Sept. 30, the regular-season and Hoosier Crossroads Conference finale for both squads. Noblesville won the HCC championship with a 6-0-1 record.
The Millers began the post-season by hosting Sectional 8. Noblesville took care of Anderson 6-0, Pendleton Heights 3-0 and won the re-match with Southeastern 2-1 in the championship game.
At the Logansport regional, the Millers held off No. 10 Homestead 2-1 in the semi-final, then cruised past Fort Wayne Carroll 4-0 in the final. That marked the fourth time in five years that Noblesville won a regional title. The Millers then traveled to South Bend St. Joseph to play the host and No. 6 Indians for the 3A north semi-state, winning 2-0.
“Noblesville is a traditional power that didn’t just randomly show up recently,” said Guerin Catholic coach Sean Yau. “They’ve been very good for a long time and right now, they have a great collection of talent that has state finals experience along with high-level club experience. They have some truly special players in their program.”
The Millers’ leading goal scorer is senior Jenna Chatterton; she has 10 goals on the season. Sophomore Ava Bramblett has scored nine goals, followed by sophomore Meskerem James with seven and junior Makenna Maloy with five. Maloy leads the assists tally with nine, followed by Bramblett with seven and Chatterton with six. Senior goalkeeper Sara Kile has 24 saves and a 0.236 goals against average (GAA).
“Just as we did last year, we know that we have to play better each game, learn from our mistakes, and pick up one another,” said Noblesville coach Mike Brady. He also said “we know that what we accomplish, we accomplish as a team, which was our attitude last year, and the culture of our program, so Guerin will have to beat a team Saturday, not a collective of talented individuals.”
The Golden Eagles are 16-1-2 for the season. Their only loss was back on Aug. 22, when GC played Carmel in its second game of the season, falling 2-0. The Golden Eagles also played to scoreless ties with Westfield and Fishers.
Guerin Catholic hosted Sectional 10 this season, and won it by beating No. 14 Zionsville and No. 13 North Central, both by 2-1 scores. At the East Central regional, the Golden Eagles took care of Brownsburg 5-0 in the semi-finals and got a comeback, overtime victory over No. 15 Mount Vernon 3-2 in the championship. Guerin then beat No. 8 Columbus North 2-1 to win the 3A south semi-state at Seymour.
“They are a well-coached team with good players,” said Brady, who noted that his team will “have to play our best game of the season” in order to win the title.
Senior Quincy McMahon, who played for the Golden Eagles on their state-qualifying team as a freshman, returned to Guerin this season after living out of state for two years. She has been a force, scoring 19 goals and providing 17 assists. Junior Katie Koger has 11 goals, while senior Evelyn Bestard has scored 10. Junior Hailey Abel is second on assists with 11. Olivia Labus has 32 saves as goalkeeper with a 0.350 GAA.
Six Golden Eagles players were on that state team as a freshman, and Yau said that experience “has helped tremendously” as Guerin Catholic prepares for the 2020 state game.
“The training environment has ramped up another level because those six were there three years ago,” said Yau. “Two of them were starters in 2017 and they have intermittently imparted their wisdom as well as things they would have changed in the week leading up to the state finals.”
This will be the Golden Eagles’ third appearance at the state finals. They also qualified in 2010, the last year of the one-class tournament. During the one-class era, four teams made it to state.
Noblesville is making its fourth appearance at the IHSAA state finals; the Millers won a pre-IHSAA state championship in 1991. The Millers first made it to state in the IHSAA-sanctioned tournament in 2000, then qualified again in 2008.
“One of the reasons we’ve had the success we’ve had has been the support we’ve received from the community, the school, and the student body, we’re fortunate to represent Noblesville, where it’s always a great day to be a Miller,” said Brady.
Guerin Catholic’s Quincy McMahon is the Golden Eagles’ scoring leader with 19 goals and 17 assists this season. (Richie Hall/File photo)