By Cameron Baker
For The Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — Many mythologies and religions throughout the world often tell a tale of a brave warrior slaying a dragon such as Hercules and the Hydra, the legend of Saint George slaying a dragon, and in Hinduism, Indra slaying the serpent Vritra.
In Thursday’s Class 3A Sectional 12 semifinal at New Palestine High School, it was the host Dragons in the role of the underdog trying to knock down the powerful Trojans of East Central.
The school from St. Leon, near the Ohio/Indiana border, came in with just two losses, ranked No. 12 in the state, and winners of four straight sectional championships. They are one of a handful of Indiana girls soccer programs with 20-plus sectional titles.
One half into Thursday’s match for a spot in Saturday’s championship, the Dragons and Trojans were deadlocked 0-0.
In the second half, the Trojans kept their chances for a fifth straight sectional alive with two goals and eventually eliminated the upset-minded Dragons 2-0.
Defense seemed to be the name of the game after a scoreless first half saw defenders on both teams come up with crucial stops time and time again, the most of which coming off an East Central corner kick in the 20th minute where New Palestine’s Lexie Compton made a huge goal line clearance to keep the game even.
“I think we played very well defensively. We’ve had to move our defense around all year and kind of find the right pieces back there, and I think we had the right players back there. We stopped several good attacks that they had. They’re a very direct team, so they were on our defense a lot,” New Palestine coach Erin Clark said.
While the Dragons (11-6) did have long spells of dominating the ball, East Central (15-2-1) was able to prevent many shots on goal due to their ability to win the majority of 50-50 balls. The best chances for New Palestine came off counter attacks that found Tylar Whitaker, the team’s leading scorer with 23 goals on the season, in and behind the Trojan backline.
New Palestine came out in the second half on the backfoot, as they struggled to control the ball like they did in the first half. The constant pressure eventually led to Maria Meyer breaking the deadlock in the 53rd minute, after a through ball set her up to be one-on-one with New Palestine’s goalie, Mackenzie Hacker, and slot the ball into the back of the net.
“They’re ranked [12th] in the state for a reason, so we knew they were going to come out second half and be ready to play. I would have liked to have a couple of more chances, but even when it was 0-0, we had a shot that missed by inches. But they were winning the air game all night long, which we knew was going to happen, they’re really good in the air,” Clark said.
After that goal, East Central continued to keep the pressure high and pin the Dragons in their own half for almost the remainder of the game. Alyssa Brians doubled the lead for East Central in the 73rd minute after a corner kick from Ava Leihgeber fell directly onto her head and end the Dragons’ season early.
“I’m not disappointed that we lost, I’m not disappointed in the way we played. The heart they showed even down 2-0 with two minutes, we were still pushing and trying to score. Everybody who got in the game tonight played their heart out, and that’s a great thing,” Clark said.
In a rematch of last year’s sectional championship, East Central will take on Greenfield-Central, a 5-0 winner over Shelbyville earlier Thursday, at 2 p.m. Saturday at New Palestine High School.
