NEW PALESTINE — Neighboring rivals had similar agendas Wednesday on the soccer field at New Palestine High School.
The girls soccer teams from Greenfield-Central and New Palestine were trying to get back in the win column.
Since starting off 7-1, the Dragons lost their first Hoosier Heritage Conference match, 6-0 to rival Mt. Vernon on Sept. 11, and dropped a 1-0 decision at No. 11 Center Grove Monday.
Greenfield-Central had dropped consecutive one-goal games to HHC opponent Delta on Sept. 11 and to Columbus North — a team that has won eight times and only given up goals in the season-opener against Center Grove — on Saturday. Prior to that it lost a tough 2-0 HHC matchup on Sept. 4 to Pendleton Heights.
It was another one-goal game in the final minutes Wednesday before New Palestine senior Tylar Whitaker was able to finalize the Dragons’ plan and give her team the cushion it needed to beat the Cougars 2-0.
Nearly straight on from around 30 yards away, Whitaker’s long-range attempt went over the head of Greenfield-Central goalkeeper Caroline Felver with 5:55 left in the contest.
Whitaker, who will play soccer next year at Indiana Wesleyan University, scored both of the Dragons goals. Wednesday’s opening goal was a one-touch shot, assisted by Nevaeh Gebhart, that got by Felver to give the Dragons a 1-0 lead with 34:27 still remaining in the 40-minute half.
“As soon as I shot it, it felt good coming off my foot,” Whitaker said of the match-clincher in the final minutes. “I knew once we had it in the net we just had to lock them down on defense. We did it and we kept them away.”
The two goals give Whitaker 17 on the season, the most by any player in the HHC.
“Any time you let a team hang around 1-0, anything can happen. You get a corner, or like our Center Grove game, you get a handball in the box, you never know what could happen,” New Palestine head coach Erin Clark said. “Getting that second one [was big].
“[Whitaker is] such a great player. She has been starting since her freshman year and she has got better and better every year. She’s somebody the girls look to and count on when we need a goal and she does that, she steps up and scores.”
Greenfield-Central coach Brandon Steeno knew going in the Dragons were going to try to find their top scorer.
After the opening goal, Steeno praised the play of Cougar senior Chaney Brown on her defense on the conference’s top goal scorer. The Dragons moved Whitaker from a forward spot to midfield and she found more room to roam to get the ball. It all led up to the final tally of the night.
“We knew what they were going to do,” Steeno said. “They were going to get it wide and try to get it back in the middle and try to get Tylar over the top. They got us [six minutes] in. We calmed down and had four or five crosses that [New Palestine goalkeeper Adalynn Eakin] swallowed up. Carly [Means] made some nice crosses.
“The second half I felt like we weren’t as quick to the ball as we had been and Tylar got a little bit of space from [30] yards out, but that’s why Tylar Whitaker is Tylar Whitaker.”
Steeno’s club, which starts a number of freshmen and sophomores and other first-time varsity players, dropped to 2-8 overall and 1-4 in the HHC.
“I think the girls did amazing. It was really nice to see a lot of our younger girls get some time in and do well,” Steeno said. “We both had some chances and I think it was a very evenly-matched game we just didn’t score as many as they did.
“At the beginning of the season I said there would be a learning curve with our young players. We’re evolving and settling in where we need to be settling in right now. We’re finding ourselves. We just have to take that next step on the offensive side. On the defensive side I think we look pretty stout. We just have to figure some things out on offense and we’ll be fine.”
New Palestine improved to 8-3 overall and are 5-1 in the conference with one league game remaining against Pendleton Heights next week.
“Ever since that Mt. Vernon debacle, we played Center Grove Monday and lost on a handball in the box in the last three minutes. We kind of had a reset and are trying to work back from that conference loss,” Clark said. “It was great to get a conference win.”
“It felt really good for us [to win] and boost our confidence especially going into conference play and playing Pendleton next week,” Whitaker added.
Greenfield-Central plays host to New Castle (2-8, 0-5) in an HHC match Monday. New Palestine travels to No. 8 Cathedral Saturday and Franklin Monday before its final conference game next Wednesday, Sept. 25, at home, against Pendleton Heights (3-5-1, 3-0).
