By RICHIE HALL
There was an interesting symmetry to the Class 3A soccer sectional championship games that took place in Hamilton County on Saturday.
At Sectional 8, both the girls and the boys title games saw Noblesville take on Fishers. The girls went first, as the No. 1-ranked Millers beat No. 20 Fishers 3-0 at Hamilton Southeastern to win their third straight championship and fifth in the last six years.
Then in the evening, Noblesville hosted the boys sectional final between the No. 2 Millers and the No. 1 Tigers. In front of a large crowd, Noblesville scored a second-half goal, and that was enough for the Millers to take a 1-0 victory.
SECTIONAL 10 SHOOTOUTS
While all this was going on, the Carmel and Zionsville teams were having their own battles at Sectional 10. Just like at Sectional 8, both the girls and the boys teams played each other for their respective championships.
But it went beyond that. Both games needed penalty kick shootouts to decide the winner, and both times it was the Greyhounds that won the shootouts by 4-1 margins. The No. 10-ranked Carmel boys went first, getting their win over the No. 7 Eagles at Westfield. Later in the evening, the host and No. 4 Greyhounds girls got stellar goalkeeper play from Aubree Empie in the shootout to get past the No. 10 Eagles at Murray Stadium.
The Carmel-Zionsville girls game was scoreless through 80 minutes of regulation and 14 minutes of overtime, so both teams had to get ready for the seemingly inevitable penalty kicks.
“On the sideline, my goalkeeper coach told me I was going to do PKs,” said Empie. “I’ve done them before in practice and I just had confidence in myself and I just told myself to calm down, I told myself I’ve got this.”
The Greyhounds went first, and made their first penalty kick. Empie then stopped the Eagles’ first attempt. The same thing happened in Round 2: Carmel made its second kick, and Empie stopped Zionsville’s second kick.
After the ‘Hounds put in their third PK, they were firmly in control. The Eagles did extend the shootout by making their lone kick, but Carmel put away the fourth to clinch the game and their 17th sectional title.
DIFFERENT SEASON
The Greyhounds had to go through a brutal draw to win the sectional, beating No. 12 Guerin Catholic and No. 6 North Central before their battle with Zionsville.
“I told the girls, the whole tournament is different than the regular year,” said Carmel coach Frank Dixon. “So, if you beat somebody in the regular year, that’s not going to be the same team you see a month or two later when you play in the sectionals. One, they know, just like you do, if you lose, you’re done. You go home. Turn your uniforms in, the season’s over. So they’re going to play as hard as they can, and so you have to be prepared for that.
“And then the other thing that happens in sectionals is the scoring tightens up. You could see it at the end of that game. They wanted to get to PKs, so they kept five kids back just to make sure, because they felt that was their best chance to win the game. And we kept pushing forward because we weren’t sure what we were going to do in PKs. In practice, we’ve been okay, but not great. Our goalkeepers have been great. They carried us through.”
The Greyhounds are 15-2-2 and will play their regional semi-final at Brownsburg on Wednesday.
The Carmel-Zionsville boys game did see scoring in regulation. The Eagles got their goal in the first half, but the Greyhounds tied things up in the second half; AJ Caito scored off an assist by Josh Martinez. Once in the shootout, goalkeeper TJ Barrett stepped up, stopping two of Zionsville’s attempts.
“What an exciting sectional championship game today,” said Carmel coach Shane Schmidt. “I am so proud of the effort the guys gave today.”
The Greyhounds boys team is 13-3-2 and play a regional semi-final Thursday at Avon.
CROWDED HOUSE
Back at Sectional 8, Hallmark Orthodontics Soccer Complex at Noblesville was filled with excitement and electricity for the Millers-Fishers boys game, as the top two teams in the state did battle. A crowd of around 1,000 people attended the game, and it made for an atmosphere that the players reveled in.
“It’s a little unfortunate to have the No. 1 versus the No. 2 so early in the tournament,” said Millers senior Palmer Ault. “We’d hoped to see each other later on down the road. There’s no atmosphere like this you can get in soccer, and I think it’s what makes high school soccer so special.”
Ault and his teamate Spencer Holland got Noblesville its goal, which came in the game’s 64th minute. Ault made a pass to Holland right in front of the net, and Holland headed it in.
“Basically that game, whoever first scores will win the game,” said Holland. “We got it, and we knew immediately we had to keep our heads in the game, just play defense, just do what we can to run down the clock.”
The Tigers continued to fight to the end, but the Millers’ defense held them off. That included a diving save from goalkeeper Gabe Ingle with 7:45 left in the game. Noblesville coach Ken Dollaske was quick to credit his defense, which included Ingle, centerbacks Andrew Cochran and Brady Horn, and outside backs Andy Stansfield and Cole Bramblett.
“I know that for us to win against the state’s best competition, we’re going to have to have them play the best game, and they did,” said Dollaske.
The Millers are 16-1-1 and play a regional semi-final game at Columbia City on Thursday.
THREE IN A ROW
Earlier in the day, the Millers’ girls team continued their sectional streak with their third consecutive title. It’s Noblesville’s 12th title in program history and the Millers’ longest win streak since they won six sectional titles in a row between 1996 and 2001.
“I think we just have a culture where the players come in and they know the bar is high, and they want to try to achieve it,” said Noblesville coach Mike Brady. “It’s just a privilege for me and I told them that this morning in a pre-game talk. It’s just an honor to be their coach and to be able to spend time with them.”
Fishers gave the Millers a strong battle, and it took Noblesville until the 30th minute to break through. Ava Bramblett got the Millers on the board, and they would lead 1-0 at halftime.
Makenna Maloy added Noblesville’s second goal in the 61st minute when Makenna Maloy scored on a free kick. The Millers completed their scoring with 3:02 left in the game when freshman Meredith Tippner found the back of the net. Meskerem James assisted on that goal.
“It’s amazing,” said James. “It’s been one of our desires to keep going. Fishers is a really good team, so we played as a team and we accomplished that. It feels amazing.”
“Fishers has always been a struggle for us,” said Maloy. “My freshman year we lost to them in PKs in the sectional final, so obviously that was in my head. I knew we weren’t going to go to overtime or PKs. I knew we had to get it done in regular time and we did and it was really exciting.”
Noblesville is 16-0-1 and plays a regional semi-final game Wednesday at No. 2-ranked Homestead in what will be a battle of unbeaten teams. The Spartans are 18-0.
HUSKIES DOMINATE
Up in the northern part of the county, the Hamilton Heights girls team cruised to victory in the Sectional 24 championship game, which the Huskies hosted Saturday night. Heights beat Jay County 9-0, winning the school’s 11th girls soccer sectional title.
Jayla Logan scored three goals for the Huskies, with Kyndall Ferguson and Emma Hall both scoring two goals. Ella Hickok and Cassidy Felger each had one goal, with Felger also making an assist. Mady Hutcherson, Emma Linville and Kate Hayes all handed out one assist as well.
“We played well,” said Heights coach Travis Kauffman. “I was proud of our girls, how they approached this. They took this very seriously. I think they came in preparation-wise, respected Jay County. They’d seen them this week win two games. They’ve seen how they could play, they’ve seen with the intensity they play with. I was proud of how they approached the game.”
“It’s really fulfilling,” said Logan. “We worked very hard for this. Everybody’s worked hard, but at the end of the day, we always say ‘Earn it before we break it dowm,’ and I really feel like we earned it this time.”
The Huskies are 16-3 and will play at the winner of the Bellmont sectional on Wednesday. Bellmont will take on Marion for the Sectional 23 championship on Monday; the game was postponed due to field conditions.
GC BOYS FALL
The Guerin Catholic boys team fell in the final of Class 2A Sectional 25 on Saturday to Brebeuf Jesuit 2-0.
The Golden Eagles finished their season 9-5.