By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
This year’s Mudsock girls soccer game ended with the same score as last year’s game, which made Hamilton Southeastern happy.
The Royals beat Fishers 3-1 at the Tigers’ stadium to retain the Mudsock trophy, and give Southeastern another victory this week. Mudsock week continues tonight with volleyball at HSE and football at Fishers on Friday.
Class 3A No. 9-ranked Southeastern scored two of its goals in the first half. Ava Keaffaber got the first goal off an assist by freshman Izzy Wallace, who would score the Royals’ second goal with 18:40 left in the half.
Wallace found the back of the net again in the second half, scoring seven and a half minutes into the half.
“Izzy’s a fantastic player,” said Royals coach Greg Davidson. “She’s fun to watch. We love her passion to score. She’s always either trying to find herself a way to score, or somebody else. She’s a great addition to our team.
“I’ll take her for another three years,” said Davidson.
As one would expect in a rivalry game, Fishers didn’t give up. The 3A No. 12 Tigers scored with 24 minutes left in the game, with Maddie Essick getting the goal. Davidson said that at that point, his team had to “now pay a lot more attention to defense,” which the Royals did, ensuring the win.
“This is our ninth ranked opponent in a row,” said Davidson. “We feel like we’ve been battle tested. Last weekend (at the Zionsville Invitational), I rested some girls and we lost some close games against top teams from Ohio. But that helped us as well. I think games like this just help us come tournament time to have emotion, to be able to withstand that emotion and still play the game of soccer and not lot emotions play us more than the game.”
Southeastern will host its own invitational this weekend, playing Crown Point and Fort Wayne Carroll. Fishers will travel to Homestead on Saturday for a 4 p.m. Game.
Meanwhile, the Mudsock chase has become interesting. The Tigers won the first two trophies, in girls golf and boys tennis.
In cross country, the results of the Hamilton County meet determine who is the Mudsock winner in that sport. It was a split – the Fishers boys and the Southeastern girls won their respective trophies. With the Royals taking the boys soccer game Tuesday and the girls soccer game Wednesday, the overall Mudsock chase stands at 3-3.
The Hamilton Southeastern girls soccer team beat Fishers 3-1 on Wednesday to claim the Mudsock trophy. (Kirk Green)
Hamilton Southeastern’s Ava Keaffaber (11) scored the Royals’ first goal in their Wednesday Mudsock game with Fishers. Pictured for the Tigers is Maddie Essick, who scored a goal in the second half.