NEW PALESTINE — With Hoosier Heritage Conference title hopes on the line between two teams that have had a history of close games in recent years, Wednesday night’s girls soccer matchup between New Palestine and Pendleton Heights was expected to be intense.
It was, and then some.
The second half saw New Palestine coaches given yellow and red cards, countless physical fouls committed by both teams and an array of yellow cards given to players on each side.
“The ref just lost control,” New Palestine head coach Erin Clark, recipient of one of the second-half yellow cards, said. “We have to learn how to control that, but he lost control of the game early and it was very evident in the last 10 to 15 minutes. Their plan was to just foul us. The bottom line is though, we just did not show up to compete.”
Pendleton Heights led 3-0 before things started to unravel in the closing 15 minutes.
In the final minutes, Clark was given a yellow card, New Palestine assistant coach Todd Thompson was given a red card, multiple Dragons players were shown yellow cards, and a hard collision between New Palestine’s Tylar Whitaker and Pendleton Heights goalkeeper Priscilla Barajas gave the Dragons a free kick and their only goal of the night in a 3-1 loss.
“When the external factors get as chippy and extreme as they did, we’ve got to stay with what we know how to do,” Pendleton Heights head coach Jonathan McClure said. “Giving up so many late fouls puts a team as dangerous as New Pal on the front foot again. We were able to regroup and defend the moment down the stretch.”
While the second half was full of excitement and extracurriculars, the first half was nearly the opposite.
Both teams had limited scoring chances, and the only goal of the first 40 minutes came on a New Palestine own goal.
Eight minutes into the game, the Arabians played a ball into the box and as New Palestine goalkeeper Adalynn Eakin came out to play it, it deflected off a Dragons defender and into a wide-open net.
“That was huge. It settled our nerves and it allowed the girls to recognize that they could do it,” McClure said. “To set the tone like that early and to be able to go into the half with the lead helped how we wanted to approach that second half.”
The goal had the Dragons playing catch-up all night, in a game they didn’t want to have to play from behind.
“It’s absolutely deflating,” Clark said. “That first goal really set the tone for the game, unfortunately.”
Over the final 30 minutes of the half, a few Whitaker through balls to Rylee Hurst and Nevaeh Gebhart went just long, Whitaker had a free kick saved by Barajas and Gebhart sent a shot just over the net.
“In the end, we didn’t control the ball enough,” Clark said. “We had some chances, and we just couldn’t put them in the back of the net. Even on some of our free kicks, we just gave them up without having a good chance on goal.”
The first three scoring chances of the second half came from Whitaker at the top of the Dragons attack. Two free kicks went off target, and after a great move to get by the Pendleton Heights defense, she sent a shot wide right.
The next scoring opportunity went to the Arabians and they converted.
On a free kick from just outside the right side of the box, Gracie Coleman curved a shot into the back corner of the net to put the Arabians ahead 2-0 with 31 minutes to go.
“That was us just being in the wrong place and another mistake,” Clark said. “We just made too many of those and didn’t play well enough to win.”
The next 15 minutes were more of the same.
Whitaker and the Dragons were awarded multiple free kicks and couldn’t convert, and Hurst sent a shot wide of the net.
On the following Pendleton Heights offensive push, they scored again.
A shot by Courtney Pickett was saved by Eakin, but the rebound came to the New Palestine defense, and another miscue led to the ball finding Pickett’s foot again for the goal and a 3-0 lead.
“We moved Gabbie [Brown] up from the back before that third goal and she has just been so strong defensively,” Clark said. “Within 10 seconds they scored, and again, that was just another mistake as well.”
A Whitaker free-kick goal with six minutes to go gave the Dragons life, and they stayed on the attack over the closing minutes.
Barajas saved a header from Brown with four minutes to go, and shortly after made a diving save to deny a New Palestine goal.
“We were composed and disciplined back there. Even when we got rattled, we overcame it quickly,” McClure said. “New Pal is a handful. They’ve got a ton of speed, a ton of physicality and they’re just tough.”
With the win, the Arabians moved to 6-0 in conference play and will have a chance at the outright HHC title on Monday at Mt. Vernon. The Marauders are 5-0 in conference play with a matchup against Delta on Saturday.
The Dragons finished HHC play 5-2 and their conference title hopes came to an end with the loss. Clark and the team now have two games left to get ready for postseason play. They play at Plainfield on Saturday and are home against Roncalli on Monday.
“After the Mt. Vernon loss our goal was just to refocus, and since then we played the No. 8 and No. 11 teams in the state and lost 1-0 and competed in both of those games,” Clark said. “I guess it’s just working on refocusing again because we just didn’t come to play tonight. Two more games to get refocused and ready for the sectional.”
