By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – When a soccer team’s biggest rival takes a one-goal lead in an important game, the easy thing to do would be to panic.
Hamilton Southeastern’s girls team doesn’t do things the easy way. Instead, the Class 3A No. 2-ranked Royals stuck with their game plan, and it eventually worked. Southeastern trailed 1-0 to Fishers in the Mudsock game on Wednesday, but the Royals came back to score two quick goals and win the Mudsock trophy 2-1.
Neither team scored in the first half. The Tigers got on the board when Mallory Slabaugh scored off an Elise May assist in the 49th minute. Southeastern had to wait a few minutes to try for an equalizer, but the Royals got it when Tatum Coleman made a corner kick and Taylor Cook volleyed it into the net.
Thus, the score was tied 1-1 with 23:43 left in the game. Less than four minutes later, Caroline Kelley put in the go-ahead goal, with Cole Lance making the assist. The 2-1 margin held for the remainder of the game, with Southeastern holding off a furious rush by Fishers in the last couple minutes to defend its Mudsock trophy.
“I loved our girls’ response in a tough situation of finding themselves down a goal,” said HSE coach Greg Davidson. “And their response was pretty magical. Didn’t lose track of our game, didn’t try to do something different. Just kept believing in the things that we’ve been doing all year, and had the heart to come back and get the game-winners.”
The win improved the Royals’ record to 9-1. This was also a Hoosier Crossroads Conference game, and Southeastern is now 3-2 in conference play.
Meanwhile, the Tigers are 2-2-1 in the conference and 4-4-1 overall. Fishers coach Harold Spooner was happy with his team’s effort after the game.
“They’re one of the better teams in the country and their quality shows every time,” said Spooner. “To have that 1-0 lead, I felt good, but I knew that they weren’t going to stop coming and our girls knew that, too. At the end of the day, we’re really proud. We didn’t get the result we wanted, but we gave them everything that they could handle.”
The Royals travel to Crown Point on Saturday, playing the Bulldogs at 11:45 a.m., then taking on Fort Wayne Carroll at 3:45 p.m. The Tigers host Plainfield Saturday morning.