NEW PALESTINE — The Dragons have an opportunity to reverse the script from last year.
A year ago, the New Palestine girls soccer team were sectional champions, hosts of their own regional. Batesville came to town and promptly ended the Dragons’ season, 6-2 winners in the regional semifinal.
This year, the repeat sectional champions host the regional round yet again after two longs trips to Rushville for sectional play on an unfamiliar field.
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“We’re really glad it’s here,” New Palestine coach Gina Fannin said. “We’re used to our field. That’s good for us. We’re used to the width, we’re used to using the width. Victoria (Crowder) knows how hard to hit the corners to get them in the right spot, where as up there she was shooting them over. It gives us extra excitement to be playing at our field, at home, because we know all the nuances of the field.”
In her six seasons, Fannin’s team have won four sectional titles. The regional level is nothing new to New Palestine.
Still eluding the Dragons is a regional championship, though. They have won 12 sectionals since 2000 but have never advanced out of the regional round.
This year’s journey starts against Danville, a team that was on the opposite side of the regional bracket at New Palestine last year. The Warriors lost to one of Indiana’s top teams a year ago, Chatard, who finished 2017 ranked No. 6.
New Palestine drew Batesville in the first round, a team that finished 2017 ranked No. 3 in Class 2A.
This year’s degree of difficulty isn’t quite that at that level, but it doesn’t make it an easy path either. There are two ranked teams playing one another in the other regional semifinal, as No. 4 Cathedral takes on No. 16 South Dearborn.
Danville had a slightly worse regular-season than last year and isn’t ranked, giving the Dragons a more winnable semifinal game before potentially facing a ranked opponent with a regional title on the line.
The Dragons and Warriors don’t have much in common on the schedule, and while New Palestine admittedly doesn’t know much about their regional opponent, they know a few things.
“I think the team’s pretty confident,” New Palestine senior Victoria Crowder said. “We looked at stats, too, so seeing that we beat Greenfield and Danville didn’t, that’s also a confidence booster. We all know that we have the potential — we just have to go, ready to play.”
The Cougars beat Danville 3-1, while New Palestine took down their county rivals 4-1 this year.
The other thing New Palestine knows about Danville is that it is a powerful offensive team, with two big weapons the hosts will need to contain.
Danville junior Madison Deckard had 44 goals and 97 points this season. Senior Sarah Guipe has 26 goals and 21 assists. Deckard is seventh in the state in points and fourth in goals, while Guipe is ninth in Indiana in assists.
The Dragons are led by Crowder and Maddy Miller, who each have 14 goals and 8 assists.
The hosts aren’t worrying about what Danville can do, though. They will play their own brand of soccer, which has helped them to a 14-4 record and a sectional title.
“I’m just a big believer on coming out and playing soccer the way you play soccer,” Fannin said. “We’re going to go in, practice our usual stuff, kind of polish things up some. Mentally I think more than anything is where we need to prepare the most.”
The Dragons are boosted for the regional round by getting some injured players back. Fannin said they are in a better spot now, thanks to the return of Edin Hurst and the expected return of Avery Biggs.
They also have Crowder back this year, after the senior tore her ACL early into the 2017 campaign and missed the majority of the season. While she admittedly started slower this year, she has regained most of her confidence as the season progressed.
She’s ready to go, ready to help her team this year at a regional.
“I’m really excited,” Crowder said. “I’m pumped, because I think that we have a very good chance at excelling to the next level. I think it’s exciting, and I’m happy.”
Along with the advantage of knowing their own field and being comfortable there, the Dragons know they could get a boost with more fan support at home.
They are cautiously confident, ready to try to get a win this year in front of their home crowd.
“I think last year we had a bad loss, but I don’t think that should bring us down,” Miller, a junior, said. “I think we should use that as an opportunity to lift us up. I think if we really step up and focus on Saturday, we have a really good chance.”
The Dragons take on Danville at noon, with the winners of the two semifinal games playing in the 7 p.m. regional championship game.
New Palestine is hoping to get a chance to get its first regional title and get a crack at either Cathedral or South Dearborn.
“We all have to come ready to play and believing that we can win,” Crowder said. “We just have to believe in ourselves. We have the potential to win, to go all the way, but we have to come ready to be focused, be determined to win.
“We want to defend our territory.”
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Four teams head to New Palestine on Saturday with hopes of making it to the Class 2A semistate round. Here’s how the New Palestine Dragons match up against Danville, and how No. 16 South Dearborn matches up against No. 4 Cathedral in the other regional semifinal.
Cathedral and South Dearborn play at 10 a.m., while the Dragons and Danville play at noon. Winners play at 7 p.m. in the championship game at New Palestine.
;New Palestine;Danville
Record;14-4;12-6-1
Goals for;73;87
Goals against;26;25
How they got here
New Palestine
Sectional opener: Beat Connersville 4-0
Sectional semifinal: Beat Beech Grove 9-2
Sectional final: Beat Shelbyville 3-0
Danville
Sectional opener: Beat Crawfordsville 5-0
Sectional semifinal: Beat Tri-West Hendricks 1-0
Sectional final: Beat Lebanon 2-1
;South Dearborn;Cathedral
Record;10-6-1;9-4-4
Goals for;53;36
Goals against;24;20
How they got here
South Dearborn
Sectional semifinal: Beat Greensburg 7-0
Sectional final: Beat Batesville 3-1
Cathedral
Sectional semifinal: Beat Chatard 3-1
Sectional final: Beat Roncalli 2-0
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