Three Hamilton County girls soccer teams played their first Hoosier Crossroads Conference game of the season on Wednesday night.
Two of those teams faced off against each other, as Fishers traveled to Westfield. It was a hard-fought game, with the Class 3A No. 13 Tigers getting past the Shamrocks by the score of 1-0.
Johanna Strueder scored Fishers’ goal with exactly 19 minutes left in the second half. The goal developed from a corner kick by Kaysey Castro, who gets the assist.
“I’m happy with how much we’ve improved with really limited time,” said Tigers coach Ben Beasley. “This is a different style team, different player team and they play really good soccer, so we’re going to get better all season long.”
Beasley also had praise for Westfield, calling this Shamrocks team “the best Westfield team that I’ve seen in a long, long time.”
“They’re very well-coached, very dynamic,” said Beasley. “They’re going to challenge, like all of us, for a conference championship this year. I can see them getting better and better with the type of coach that they have and type of athletes they have.”
It was the first full game for Fishers; the Tigers were leading McCutcheon 1-0 at halftime on Saturday before rain canceled that contest. Westfield won its Monday opener, so the Shamrocks are 1-1 for the season.
“I think we have some improvements to make,” said Westfield coach Hannah Mangus. “I think we worked hard, but defensively we could do a little bit better winning balls out of the air and competing. But it’s the second game and we’ll bounce back.”
Hamilton Southeastern’s girls team, ranked No. 2 in 3A, roared to 9-0 HCC win over Franklin Central on Wednesday.
Izzie Wallace led the Royals with three goals, while Ella Wolf and Ashlyn Freeman both scored two. Ava Marquardt and Molly Harris both had one goal. Layla Brown handed out three assists, while Wolf, Kaitlynne Wallace and Marquardt each had one.
Southeastern coach Greg Davidson said that stout defense led to the shutout, allowing only two shots on goal. Abby Jenkins and Shelby Schechter combined for the shutout.
The Royals will take on three ranked teams in 3A this weekend, playing No. 14 Warsaw on Friday, then No. 4 Homestead and No. 11 Chesterton on Saturday.
Southeastern also won the junior varsity game 5-0 over the Flashes, while the HSE freshmen beat North Central 8-1.
The Hamilton Heights boys team fell to Yorktown 2-1 on Wednesday.
The first half ended without a score, but the Tigers opened the second half by scoring two goals in the first eight minutes. The Huskies cut the score to 2-1 on a free kick from around 25 yards out; Tyler Grabarz took the kick and found Donovan Trew, who put a header into the net.
“The Huskies outshot the Tigers 19-11 and had some great possession, they just couldn’t find the back of the net,” said Heights coach Derrick Dean.
Marcus Shaffer had six saves as goalkeeper.
“Player of the game goes to sophomore Lance Jones for his great and tireless effort on both sides of the ball,” said Dean.
Fishers’ Aubrey Robertson (34) prepares to kick the ball as her teammate Lauryn Arnett (3) and Westfield’s Maggie O’Neal (5) get in position during the Tigers-Shamrocks girls soccer game Wednesday at Westfield. (Richie Hall)