The Westfield girls soccer team scored the biggest win of the first round of sectionals Tuesday at Class 3A Sectional 10 at Guerin Catholic.
The Shamrocks stunned No. 2-ranked Carmel in penalty kicks, 5-3. The score was tied 1-1 after the regulation 80 minutes and the two seven-minute overtime periods, which sent the game into PKs. Westfield made all five of its kicks.
“We are really excited,” said ‘Rocks coach Hannah Eggert. “The girls are super excited and I’m so proud of them.”
The two teams had played last Monday, Sept. 28, with the Greyhounds winning 2-0.
“We knew that they liked to dribble through the midfield,” said Eggert. As Westfield prepared, the coaches talked about making sure the Shamrocks didn’t allow Carmel to do that again.
“We executed that tonight, which prevented a lot of opportunities that they had in the previous game,” said Eggert.
The ‘Hounds scored first, with Susie Soderstrom finding the net off a left baseline cross. Luci Bair provided the assist. The score remained 1-0 until the 72nd minute, when Westfield’s Madison Niehaus sent the equalizer in off a defensive steal.
Defense, of course, was a big part of the Shamrocks’ win. Quinn Sever led the way; Eggert said she “had a heck of a game in the back line.”
“Very solid, went in hard to every single tackle,” said Eggert. “Won balls out of the air, prevented them getting crosses off. She played really, really well. Our whole back line did, but Quinn was the big standout tonight.”
Sydney Payne and Zoe McKinney split time as goalkeepers, and both had five saves. Erin Baker had three saves as the Carmel goalkeeper.
The ‘Hounds ended their season with a 15-2 record. Meanwhile, Westfield is now 6-6-3 and will play No. 13 North Central in Thursday’s second semi-final. The first semi-final features No. 3 Guerin Catholic and No. 14 Zionsville, which starts at 5 p.m.
“I think they have a lot of confidence,” said Eggert. “But we do need to get back to work and just rein that back in. We have another game, it’s just like Carmel and we got to play our hardest like we did tonight.”
Noblesville’s girls team, which is hosting Class 3A Sectional 8 this season, opened up first-round play with a 6-0 victory over Anderson on Tuesday.
The top-ranked Millers scored their first three goals within the first 10 minutes of the game. Abby Baker, Jacey Hoopingarner and Meagan Wernke all found the back of the net. Riley Maloy added a goal to make the score 4-0 at halftime.
Maloy and Paige Stooksberry both scored a goal in the second half. With the win, Noblesville improved to 11-0-1 for the year.
The Millers host Pendleton Heights in Thursday’s first semi-final game at 5 p.m., followed by a Mudsock rematch between No. 5 Hamilton Southeastern and No. 16 Fishers.
The Hamilton Heights girls began play at Class 2A Sectional 24 at Yorktown with a 4-0 win over Delta on Tuesday.
The No. 6-ranked Huskies had to battle the Eagles’ defense at first, but broke through in the 18th minute when Kyndall Ferguson scored. Sophie Martin put Heights’ second goal into the net just two minutes later, and the 2-0 score would stand at halftime.
Emma Hall added the Huskies’ third goal, then Cassidy Felger completed the scoring with Heights’ fourth goal.
The Huskies will take on Jay County Thursday in the site’s second semi-final. That game follows the 5 p.m. first semi-final between New Castle and No. 13 Yorktown.
In boys sectional action, No. 1-ranked Noblesville and No. 4 Hamilton Southeastern both got easy wins on Monday to begin play at Class 3A Sectional 8 at Southeastern.
First, the Millers beat Muncie Central 10-0. Palmer Ault scored two goals in the first half, with Spencer Holland adding one, and assisting both of Ault’s goals. That gave Noblesville a 3-0 halftime lead.
The Millers scored quickly to begin the second half, with Drew Cochran making his first-ever varsity goal off a steal. Noblesville also got goals from Ault, Drew Barnes, Garrett Poynter, and first-ever varsity goals for Andy Stansfield, Jordan Hindes and Cameron Jarrett.
In Monday’s second game, the Royals defeated Pendleton Heights 6-0. Parker Gopsill scored two goals for Southeastern, with one goal each for Harsahil Gandham, Isa Sayeed, Neel Wetzel and Jack Hyatt.
The Millers and the Royals play each other at 5:30 p.m. today in the first semi-final game at the Southeastern field. The second semi-final, between Fishers and Anderson, will follow.
Guerin Catholic cruised to a 5-0 first-round win over Lebanon Monday at Class 2A Sectional 26 at Cardinal Ritter.
Alex Gardner and Luke Cloran combined for the shutout for the No. 2 ranked Golden Eagles. Guerin Catholic is 10-1-2 and will play Covenant Christian at 5:30 p.m. today in the first semi-final.
Hamilton Heights also played at the Ritter sectional, and lost 3-0 Tuesday to the host Raiders. The Huskies finished the season 8-6-3.