Mt. Vernon’s Charlie Cole maneuvers the ball in match against New Palestine. On Tuesday, Cole had three goals in a sectional-opening win over Muncie Central.
Mike Brown | For the Daily Reporter
FISHERS — When the Sectional 8 draw came out, Mt. Vernon had its eyes set on a potential meeting with No. 2 ranked Hamilton Southeastern in the semifinals.
In the first game of the season, the Marauders were defeated by the Royals 3-1, but had three starters out going into the game and had another three get injured during the game.
To set up that rematch, the Royals had to defeat Pendleton Heights and the Marauders had to take care of Muncie Central on Tuesday night at Hamilton Southeastern High School.
HSE did their part in the early game, and to close out the night, Mt. Vernon defeated the Bearcats 4-1 behind a Charlie Cole hat trick.
“It’ll be a great test tomorrow. HSE is a great team with 11 strong players, and then they can bring another 10 or 11 strong players off the bench. We’re going to have to be ready, and we were able to get some guys some rest tonight,” Mt. Vernon head coach Matt Mayhew said. “We talked about how we wanted a chance at HSE, but our message was that we couldn’t overlook Muncie Central. We had never played them, and we had played some common opponents and had the same results. You never know what it’s going to be like coming out.”
Tuesday’s win was fueled by what the Marauders have become known for this season — Charlie Cole goals and stout defense.
Cole had the first three goals of the night, and defensively, Mt. Vernon allowed just four shots. The only shot to go on target for the Bearcats, and their lone goal, came on a penalty kick with 3:31 remaining.
“We’ve been doing a lot of possession lately in training and there were times where we could just move the ball until things opened up. We like to play fast, but we want to wait for those opportunities,” Mayhew said. “I’ve said it all season, we rely on our defense until our attack can get going.”
Cole’s first goal of the night came 12 minutes into the game and was set up by senior Luke Alka.
Near the endline, Alka corralled the ball, turned towards the net and found Cole breaking toward the back post. The pass found Cole’s foot, and he was able to beat Muncie Central goalkeeper Luka Pavelka for the early lead.
“We’ve been moving Charlie around and putting him in different spots so that other guys would have to perform and find those openings. Charlie will be the first one to tell you that the other guys help him out a ton,” Mayhew said. “Those first two were great assists. Luke dug one out on the end, got his head up and found him. He could’ve shot it, but saw Charlie breaking in, so a very unselfish play by him.”
Despite outshooting the Bearcats 8-2 in the opening half, the Marauders only led 1-0 entering the break.
After the break, the offensive chances were still there, and this time they found the back of the net.
The second goal of the night came on another great assist nine minutes into the half. On a free kick near midfield, senior defender Rylan Vinard — an Indiana State University football kicker commit — sent a high arching kick into the box that found Cole for the header and a 2-0 lead.
“Rylan had done that at a game earlier in the season, so we just looked at each other and I called out that school’s name,” Mayhew said. “He got a smile on his face, and I think he was actually going to try to shoot it, but Charlie just has a natural eye for the ball and was able to find it.”
With 8:27 to go, Cole put the Bearcats away for good with his third goal of the night, and a few minutes later, sophomore Ryan Kroemer added to the lead with his third goal of the season.
Cole’s three goals pushed his season total to 18.
Mt. Vernon and Hamilton Southeastern play Wednesday at 7:15 p.m.
