PENDLETON — When New Palestine stepped onto the pitch at Pendleton Heights High School on Wednesday night, they had full control of their Hoosier Heritage Conference destiny as the lone undefeated team in conference play.
Already with a win over perennial-power Mt. Vernon, the next biggest challenge standing in the Dragons path to an HHC title was the Arabians.
The battle for the top of the conference was a near repeat of the pair’s matchup a season ago.
After 40 minutes it was tied. After 80 minutes it was tied, and after the full 94 minutes (two seven-minute overtimes), it remained tied.
Even after seven rounds of penalty kicks, a winner had yet to be decided.
In the eighth round, Pendleton Heights Ella Brindley scored, and goalkeeper Priscilla Barajas kicked away the Dragons tying attempt for the 2-1 win.
“It’s tough,” New Palestine head coach Erin Clark, whose team beat the Arabians on penalty kicks last season, said. “It shouldn’t have got to this point, but [Pendleton Heights] played well. They came to play.”
Just like they sat in control of the conference, the Dragons controlled Wednesday’s game for all 94 minutes.
Unofficially, New Palestine outshot the Arabians 28 to seven, and controlled possession for the majority of the match.
“It’s one of those nights that when you get to this point you just don’t understand how you lost. We controlled the entire game. They had no attack, and only a few shots on goal,” Clark said. “It’s hard when you play that well, dominate the game, and lose. But it’s soccer and that happens.”
With nine shots to Pendleton Heights’ three in the first half, the Dragons still entered the break tied, but not for a lack of good chances.
In the final three minutes of the half, a shot by Hannah Sund was tipped over the top of the net, and a shot by Nevaeh Gebhart from outside the box hit the right post.
The first 20 minutes of the second half saw the Dragons attempt four corner kicks and throw countless shots towards the net, all by different attackers.
“They put two or three girls on (leading scorer) Tylar [Whitaker] all night, and that was their game plan to try and take her out of the equation,” Clark said. “She’s a big part of our team and that helped them.”
It wasn’t until the fourth corner attempt, with just over 20 minutes remaining, that the Dragons, and Whitaker, finally broke through. Off of Whitaker’s cross into the box, senior defender Vivian Miller ran in and deflected the ball past Barajas and into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Seven minutes later, the Arabians answered. On just their second shot attempt of the half, they put one past sophomore goalkeeper McKenzie Hacker.
Off of a corner kick, the ball slipped through Hacker’s hands and onto the foot of Imari Francis who tied things up 1-1.
“We gave up only two corners, and on the second there was just some miscommunication that led to the goal,” Clark said. “It’s one of those games where you just have to go back and look at the game film to see how it got to this point.”
In overtime, the chances belonged to the Dragons once again. A minute into the opening overtime the ball reached the Arabians goal line twice, but each time Barajas was there to scoop it up.
“We had two balls right on the goal line in overtime that almost went in, so we had chances to score and then just didn’t convert on the PKs,” Clark said. “But when you get to penalties, that’s what happens, you just never know.”
After a tie through five rounds of PKs, the Dragons first-year goalkeeper in her first game in net for a penalty kick shootout saved attempts in the sixth and seventh rounds to give the Dragons a chance to win, but each time, as she did all night long, Barajas answered with a save of her own.
“She [Hacker] did great. She guessed the right way, had her hand on every ball, and stopped two shots,” Clark said. “We just have to convert and make goals.”
Pendleton Heights now sits at 5-1 in the conference, while both New Palestine and Mt. Vernon sit at 4-1. The Arabians and Marauders play on Monday, while the Dragons next HHC game is Saturday at home at 11:30 a.m. against Shelbyville.
