The Carmel soccer teams hosted their counterparts from Cathedral Saturday at Murray Stadium for the Class 3A Carmel regional championship.
The Greyhounds girls team played first, and beat the Irish 4-1 to defend their regional title. The Greyhounds got on the board in the 24th minute when Megan Hamm scored, then Adalyn Cameron added a second goal in the 34th minute. Carmel wasn’t done: Hamm sent a ball to Greta Heyl with one minute to play in the half, and Heyl put the ball in the net.
The Greyhounds thus led 3-0 at halftime. The Irish scored their goal in the second half, but Carmel scored with 23 minutes left; Hamm added her second goal off a Claire Simmonds assist. Cathedral did score another goal late, but the Greyhounds had the game in hand by then.
“I was happy with the way they played,” said Carmel coach Frank Dixon. “I think it was one of our better games of the year. That was a good team. We’re playing a good team. They didn’t get here by accident.”
Dixon said that Katherine Hartung, the defensive midfielder, had a “great game” for the Greyhounds, saying she “put in a great day in the center of that field.”
The ‘Hounds improved to 17-2-2 and won their 17th regional championship in program history. Carmel will play Center Grove in the Class 3A south semi-state next Saturday at Seymour.
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The Carmel boys tried to make it a Greyhounds sweep, but were stopped by Cathedral in a hard-fought contest.
The game was tied at 1-1 after regulation and overtime, so it went to penalty kicks. The Irish won in that round 4-2, giving them a 2-1 regional victory.
Cathedral led 1-0 at halftime. Ben Keleher tied the game on a free kick with 16:14 left in the second half. Carmel’s offense was relentless in the second half and overtime, taking numerous corner kicks, but Cathedral play a tough defensive game to hold off the ‘Hounds.
Carmel’s Nicolas Basso made several corner kicks for the Greyhounds during their game with Cathedral on Saturday. (Kirk Green)
In the shootout, the Irish goalkeeper blocked the Greyhounds’ first two kicks, while Cathedral made its first two attempts. Alex Kazmerczak and Hayden Warneke both made kicks to keep the pressure on, but the Irish made both of their kicks to win the regional.
“Credit to them,” said Carmel coach Shane Schmidt. “They did what they needed to do to knock us off.”
The Greyhounds finished their season 15-3-3, winning a sectional title and earning the No. 1 ranking in Class 3A.
“They need to hold their heads up high and be proud of what they did,” said Schmidt. “They’re winners, man. They’re all winners. And just because of this result, doesn’t change the fact they’re winners or a good team and everything that they put together with it.”