NEW PALESTINE — Getting the first-round bye in an IHSAA sectional tournament is always a good thing.
One more day of rest, one less game to play, and one step closer to the championship match.
For New Palestine’s boys soccer team, that bye meant even longer to think about a season-ending loss to Pendleton Heights for the outright Hoosier Heritage Conference title, and a three-game skid to close out the year.
While those things were on the minds of New Palestine players and coaches over the extended break, it also gave them time to right some wrongs.
That paid off in a 4-1 semifinal victory over Connersville in the New Palestine Boys Soccer Sectional Wednesday night.
“I think we were all itching to get back out there. We knew we could play better and we did that tonight. It was nice to get that opportunity,” New Palestine head coach Brett Canova said. “It gave us a chance to clean some things up and get back to the way we needed to be.”
After being limited to one goal over the last 240 minutes of game time, the New Palestine offense came out hungry and ready to attack.
Two corner kick attempts in the opening minute set the stage for the remainder of the game.
Over the next 15 minutes, the Dragons would fire four shots on the net and have a goal called back for offsides.
Just under the 24-minute mark they finally broke through. On a dropped-off pass from Elliott Canova, Andon Colclazier fired a shot left past Connersville goalkeeper Tyler Garrett.
Three minutes later, it was Elliott Canova finding the back of the net to increase the New Palestine lead.
Off of a pass from Cohen Wintin, Canova made a quick move past a Connersville defender and beat Garrett low and to the left.
“It was all about being patient and controlling the ball,” coach Canova said. “The few times where we gave it up, we were a bit impatient, but when we slowed it down that was when the best things happened for us.”
The Dragons followed suit in the second half with the previous goal’s assist-getter, getting his turn at putting his name in the goal column.
Just four minutes into the second half Wintin pushed the lead to 3-0 off Cole Christopher’s first of his two second-half assists.
A few minutes later, Paxton Holmes took a pass from Christopher and made a quick move by the Connersville defense for the one-on-one look at the net. He buried the shot for the 4-0 lead to cap off the scoring for New Palestine.
The Dragons fired 18 shots on the night, with 13 going on net.
Defensively, the Dragons allowed just one late goal and limited the Spartans to just eight shots on goal.
With 15 minutes remaining, Mitchell Steele cleaned up the initial save from New Palestine goalkeeper Jake Wells to put the Spartans on the board.
“I thought our defense played great,” coach Canova said. “We made some changes in the formation and switched some things up towards the end to kind of challenge the boys and to see what we could do. We’ve been practicing it and we thought it was time to give it a go.”
The win was New Palestine’s first sectional win since 2019 and the Dragons will now play in their first championship game since 2015 on Saturday at 2 p.m., against the defending champs, East Central.
“It’s been way too long. It feels wonderful, I love it,” coach Canova said. “We earned it too, they [Connersville] came in and played hard and they’re a 13-win team, so we knew it was going to take a lot.”
