INDIANAPOLIS — Monday night, under the lights at Mary Bryan Elementary’s Holder Field, a spot in the boys soccer sectional semifinals was on the line.
In the opening round, and first game, of the Perry Meridian Sectional, Greenfield-Central and Greenwood squared off with the winner advancing to face New Palestine Wednesday.
Greenwood, with a second-half goal to break a 1-1 tie, will face the Dragons, ending Greenfield-Central’s season 2-1.
“The boy’s mentality has been awesome, especially in the last part of the season. Just really proud of them sticking it out tonight. Greenfield definitely had the intensity, so we needed to match that the whole way and we did,” Greenwood head coach Dan Priscu said. “This group is the first group that doesn’t know anything from the previous program, so I’m proud of them because we just got our first sectional win in a long time.”
A quick response to Greenfield-Central’s lone goal propelled the Woodmen to the win.
With 32:06 to go in the second half, Greenfield-Central sophomore Grayson Young put home a rebound off a free kick that hit the crossbar to even things at 1-1.
Just under four minutes later, the Woodmen scored the deciding goal.
“It’s funny because in soccer that happens all the time. I don’t know why, it just happens where it’s bang-bang goals,” Greenfield-Central assistant coach Matt McConnell said. “I don’t think it was a gut-punch though, our boys stuck with it and there was no real dropoff.”
On a corner kick from Landon Holt, Greenwood’s Emmanuel Jackson beat G-C goalkeeper Nathan Robbins with a header.
“That response was massive,” Priscu said. “It shows that we can respond and that nothing phases us which is the most important thing at this point of the season. It was awesome to show that fight.”
With the Woodmen up 2-1, the final 28 minutes of play were controlled by the Cougars who had six shots, five corners and nine free kicks in the second half.
With 20 minutes to go, a G-C header went over the crossbar, a few minutes later they sent a shot wide left, and with just under 14 minutes remaining, Greenwood goalkeeper Braden Reynolds denied a Cougars free kick with a save while falling to the ground.
“It was us making some adjustments in the midfield that allowed us to get that pressure,” McConnell said. “We felt like in the first half that they were finding some passes and were able to play around us with ease. We stopped that play in the midfield in the second half and we were able to maintain the attack.”
Following the save, Greenfield-Central head coach Bobby Holden was given back-to-back yellow cards, and if anything, it fueled the Cougars attack.
The final 13 minutes were filled with offensive pressure from the Cougars attack but each time they came up empty.
A corner kick with 12 minutes to go was cleared by the Woodmen, with 10:27 to go a free kick was cleared away from net, and with four minutes to go another corner was cleared.
The best chance for the Cougars to tie things up came in the closing seconds. With time expiring, they fired off back-to-back corners but Greenwood’s defense cleared the first out of play, and the second attempt went long as the clock ran out.
“The boys continued to dig deep and just kept going and going. We made some decisions late to put our seniors in places to have success hoping they could carry the load,” McConnell said. “Things got crazy, but even while things got crazy over here, they kept a level head and kept pushing.”
The first half was controlled by the Woodmen who opened up the scoring a little after the halfway mark of the half.
With 18:40 to go in the opening half, a Greenfield-Central handball inside the box gave Greenwood a penalty kick, and senior Za Sang buried the shot into the bottom left corner of the net, beating Robbins who guessed the opposite direction.
While the go-ahead goal didn’t come until over 20 minutes into the game, the Woodmen had their chances early on.
At the 33-minute mark, a diving save by Robbins off a Greenwood corner kick denied a goal and off the rebound, a second Woodmen shot was blocked and cleared by the Cougars defense.
Ten minutes later, a Greenwood header off a free kick went just over the top bar.
The Cougars, who had limited first-half scoring chances had their best opportunity in the closing seconds.
Following a Robbins save on the other end, the Cougars took off running with 20 seconds to go before the break.
Ryan Dietz found himself one-on-one on net, but his shot as time expired went wide right.
Greenfield-Central ended the season 3-10 but prior to Monday’s loss had closed out the regular season with their first three wins of the year. That growth is something McConnell sees as a big takeaway from the year.
“Our kids were ball boys tonight because they didn’t have any, and our kids were the ones jumping fences to go get balls that went over to help them out. The character growth from this team has just been outstanding,” McConnell said. “At the end of the day, wins and losses come and go, but the character of the kids and the growth is the best thing. The program is moving in the right direction.”
Greenwood (6-7-4) plays New Palestine (7-8-1) in Wednesday’s semifinal beginning at 5:30 p.m.
