GREENFIELD — The Cougars aren’t looking in the rearview mirror.
After a tough loss nine days ago to Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Mt. Vernon, Greenfield-Central’s girls’ soccer team is moving full speed ahead.
Coach Brandon Steeno’s team mantra of ‘One More Step’ is a step forward and heading in the right direction.
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Since the loss, the Cougars have won two straight, both HHC home games, including Wednesday’s 3-1 victory against Pendleton Heights at the Greenfield-Central Soccer Field. The team beat Yorktown, 4-2, last Thursday.
“Part of that (mantra) is the mental focus,” Steeno said. “When something happens, you have to take that next step, you can’t worry about it … They’ve really done that. They have focused on the task at hand and have accepted that responsibility and that challenge and I’m super-proud of them tonight.”
The win ups Greenfield-Central’s mark to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the HHC. Pendelton Heights, who the Cougars tied for second in the conference last year with New Palestine, dropped to 3-2-2 and 0-1 in league play. All three of the second place teams finished 5-2 in the HHC last season.
“This one means a lot,” sophomore Kelsi McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin had two goals and was close to getting a couple more.
After the majority of the first half was played without a lot of opportunities, McLaughlin scored with just 9:34 left in the half. Kennedy Trapp got the assist.
“That one definitely gave us momentum,” McLaughlin said of the first of her two goals. “We felt like, ‘we’ve got this’ and we mentally got in it. We felt we could score and put in a few more.”
Pendleton Heights goalkeeper Gracie Conkling kept McLaughlin from scoring earlier. With about 15 minutes to go until halftime, Cougars senior Anne Marie DeKeyser had a nice touch on a ball to McLaughlin, but it lingered a little too long in front of the net and Conkling was able to get there before McLaughlin could tap it in.
Pendleton Heights was called for a foul in the box, on Greenfield-Central sophomore Emma Rennier, five minutes into the second half. McLaughlin took the penalty kick, but knocked it off the crossbar.
There was no stopping the DeKeyser-to-McLaughlin connection just five minutes later. McLaughlin took the pass, dribbled through traffic and found the back of the net for a 2-0 Cougar led with 30:31 remaining in the contest.
At the 13:27 mark, DeKeyser gave Greenfield-Central a 3-0 lead. Similar to how McLaughlin scored earlier in the half, she dribbled through Arabians to give her team a comfortable lead. Freshman Sarah Contreraz had the assist.
It wasn’t all offense for the Cougars.
The one goal by Pendleton Heights is the lowest total for a Cougar opponent this season. The Cougars were close to a shutout, but the Arabians’ Megan Mills scored on a long free kick with 11:28 left on the clock.
Steeno was pleased with the group that helps protect junior goalkeeper Schyler Slunaker.
“We’ve asked those five individuals (on defense) probably more than anybody else to get out of their comfort zone and play differently,” Steeno said. “Growing pains early in the season have kind of resulted in the results that we have, but, tonight, except for that one free kick from an incredibly talented player, they played phenomenal.”
Steeno was speaking of the back line of Kennedy Trapp, Kambell Trapp, Emily Davidson, Nora Gardner and Zuleny Calderon.
He had a little extra pat on the back for the junior Calderon.
“Zuleny was probably our player of the game. She played her best game in a Cougar uniform,” he said. “She’s not physically imposing, but she gets in the right spot in the right time.”
