FORTVILLE — The opportunities were plenty. The scoring came eventually.
Greenfield-Central shots were to the left, to the right, high, and in to the hands of Richmond goalkeeper Molly O’Brien.
Finally, in the last eight minutes of the first half, the Cougars found the back of the net, twice.
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They kept coming in the second half and the Cougars went on to defeat Richmond 6-0 in the first round of Class 3A Girls Soccer Sectional 12 at Mt. Vernon High School.
The Cougars improved to 14-2. Richmond, the runner-up in the North Central Conference, ends its season at 9-8-1. Greenfield-Central will play Mt. Vernon, who beat county rival New Palestine 2-1 on Tuesday, in a 5:30 p.m. semifinal contest on Thursday.
“First game sectional jitters; once we got into it, we calmed down,” Greenfield-Central coach Brandon Steeno said of his club’s slow start. “We refocused at halftime and it was fun to watch them play (in the second half).”
It was Greenfield-Central’s 10th straight win. The Cougars have outscored opponents 63-6 during that stretch. They haven’t lost since a 2-0 decision Sept. 7 against Park Tudor.
“They’re young,” Steeno said of his team. “We had a lot of growing pains early.”
Sophomore Kelsi McLaughlin had the majority of the first-half opportunities, but it was senior teammate Anne Marie DeKeyser that scored the initial goal. McLaughlin had a shot on goal go off freshman teammate Cora Bishop. In the scramble for possession, DeKeyser was able to get possession and score the game’s first goal, unassisted, with 7:55 left in the first half.
With only 1:25 left until the half, McLaughlin got a pass from DeKeyser, then dribbled through the defense for a close-distance left-footer to make the score 2-0.
“We just clicked more once we settled down,” DeKeyser said. “We have three or four freshmen starters and this was their first sectional game and they were a little nervous. They just had a little of the first-game jitters.”
DeKeyser admitted that those jitters are sometimes there for the veterans, too. She is hopeful a win and advancement to the semifinal round will calm the Cougars for Thursday night.
“It feels good to get that first win and be able to prepare for the next one,” she said.
DeKeyser and McLaughlin added two goals in a 28-second time span of the second half. DeKeyser, from freshman Gladys Rodriguez, put the Cougars up 3-0 with 29:42 left in the game. On a breakaway following a steal, McLaughlin scored at 29:14 for a 4-0 lead.
McLaughlin made it a hat trick at the 21:12 mark, scoring her third and the Cougars’ fifth, assisted by junior Kennedy Trapp.
Trapp added one of her own with 9:37 remaining for Greenfield-Central’s sixth goal.
“We just weren’t connecting early and weren’t in sync,” Steeno added. “We talked about it, changed some things and hammered it after that.”
The win was Greenfield-Central’s first postseason victory since 2016. Last season, in a first-round game, the Cougars lost to Mt. Vernon in a penalty kick shootout. In 2017, Greenfield-Central got a bye into the semifinals before losing 3-2 to East Central.
In 2016, for the sectional championship, Greenfield-Central beat Mt. Vernon in another penalty-kick shootout.
