Soccer: Noblesville girls win HCC championship

Once again, the Hoosier Crossroads Conference girls soccer championship came down to the final game between Noblesville and Hamilton Southeastern.
It was quite a game, and it took place Wednesday night at the Class 3A No. 1-ranked Royals’ field. Southeastern took an early lead, but the 3A No. 3 Millers scored right before halftime, and scored again right before full time to get a 2-1 victory and win the HCC championship outright.
Noblesville finished with a 6-0-1 record in the conference, with the Royals completing play at 6-1.
“This is the best soccer conference in the state, so to win this is an accomplishment for the girls and the hard work they’ve put in,” said Millers coach Mike Brady. “I just told the team, runner-up was nice last year, but I lied to them. We want to win the conference, which we did tonight. And they have something to celebrate, but they also know they have to come back tomorrow. Now our goals are bigger than conference, now we want to make that state tournament run.”
Southeastern scored first, with Izzie Wallace getting the ball in the back of the net in the sixth minute. Layla Brown provided the assist. The Royals’ lead held until there was 5:25 left in the first half, when Jenna Chatterton made the equalizer off an assist by Elana Chatterton. Thus the game went into halftime tied 1-1.
The game stayed knotted at 1-1 until the 73rd minute, when Elana Chatterton scored to get Noblesville up 2-1. The Millers held on from there, and the celebration was on the second the clock hit zero.
“I was following the ball,” said Elana Chatterton, minutes after making one of the bigger goals of the season for the Millers.
“We’re usually a second-half team,” said Jenna Chatterton. “We knew the first half was kind of rough, so we just needed to come out and get after it in the second half.”
This was the final regular-season game for both teams. Noblesville is now 11-0-3, while Southeastern is 14-2.
“Two great teams battling it out,” said Royals coach Greg Davidson. “I loved how my team started the game. We really had the game in hand the first 25 minutes, but there’s an 80-minute game. We kind of dropped some momentum in that last 15 minutes, and they were able to capitalize on that and tie us at halftime.”
Southeastern hosts Class 3A Sectional 8 next week. The Royals play the first game Tuesday against Muncie Central. The Millers will play Anderson Thursday in the bye semi-final game.

In another HCC game, Westfield played to a 0-0 tie with Avon Wednesday at the Orioles’ field.
The Shamrocks finished conference play 2-4-1, placing them sixth in the league. Westfield completed the regular season with a 9-6-1 record, and plays Zionsville Monday in Class 3A Sectional 10 at Carmel.

Carmel, ranked No. 2 in 3A, won an undefeated Metropolitan Conference championship on Wednesday by beating 3A No. 7 Center Grove 5-1 at the Trojans’ field.
The game was scoreless at halftime, but Emma Antoine got the Greyhounds on the board in the 50th minute, off a double assist from Kelsie James and Tamara Smith. Emily Roper quickly got Carmel up 2-0 with a goal, assisted by Morgan Parker.
Center Grove scored its lone goal in the 58th minute, but the Greyhounds poured in three more goals in a nine-minute span to clinch the game. James added two goals, the first unassisted, the second assisted by Emily Roper. Susie Soderstrom finished the scoring, assisted by Mia Glass. Goalkeeper Erin Baker made nine saves.
Carmel finished the season 7-0 in MIC play and 13-0-3 overall. The Greyhounds will host Class 3A Sectional 10 next week; Carmel received the bye and will play Monday’s Zionsville/Westfield winner next Thursday, Oct. 10.

Hamilton Heights finished its regular season Wednesday with a 4-3 win over Pendleton Heights.
The 2A No. 18 Huskies scored twice in the first half. Cassidy Felger got the first goal off an assist by Jayla Logan, then Logan scored the second goal with Shanna Moffatt assisting.
The Arabians scored three goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half to lead 3-2, but Heights tied it up quickly when Jenna Peterson sent a ball to Katie Smith, who kicked it 30 yards into the goal. The Huskies took the lead for good when Logan converted a penalty kick.
Heights is 9-2-4 for the season and plays at Sheridan this afternoon.

Sheridan fell to Tipton 6-0 on Wednesday.
The Blackhawks played solid on defense in the first half, but dealt with injuries in the second half. Leah Hopper had a strong game for Sheridan as a defender.

BOYS GAMES
University beat Tri-West 2-1 in a Wednesday home game.
The 1A No. 2 Trailblazers finished its regular season 10-2-4 with the victory. They will play in the Class 1A Park Tudor sectional, taking on Scecina Wednesday.

Hamilton Heights defeated Liberty Christian 2-1 in its regular-season finale and Senior Night game on Tuesday.
The Huskies’ Max Stallsmith got the game’s first goal off an assist by Hunter Toll with nine minutes left in the first half. Heights then went up 2-0 after Luke Vanderwall scored with 14 minutes left in the second half. Lance Jones provided the assist.
The Lions converted a penalty kick with 10 minutes left, but the Huskies were able to hold on for the win. Owen Martin made a big save with two minutes remaining to preserve the win. Marcus Shaffer had four saves.
Heights finished the regular season 5-11-1. The Huskies play Class 3A Sectional 26 host Brebeuf Jesuit Tuesday in the first game of that sectional.

The Noblesville girls soccer team came from behind to beat Hamilton Southeastern 2-1 on Wednesday. The victory gave the Millers the Hoosier Crossroads Conference championship; Noblesville finished conference play with a 6-0-1 record. (Richie Hall)