Mt. Vernon’s Jaicee Cole tries to gain ball control over Hamilton Southeastern.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
By Cameron Baker
For the Daily Reporter
FISHERS — Coming off an undefeated Hoosier Heritage Conference season after a victory against Pendleton Heights, Mt. Vernon’s tough end of season schedule came to a climax when they took on the top-ranked girls soccer team in Indiana in Hamilton Southeastern.
Hamilton Southeastern (12-0-3) showed why they are ranked so highly by defeating No. 18 Mt. Vernon (9-3-3) 2-0.
Mt. Vernon coach Aaron Britt is not too worried about the loss however, as he felt the game was a good opportunity to refine and tweak some small things heading into the sectional tournament.
“They’re a similar team to what we’ll see in the first game of the tournament. We wanted to see how we could settle in and handle things. I think we’ll do some things a little differently. This game gave us a chance to try some things out,” Britt said.
Mt. Vernon drew a first-round bye in the Noblesville Sectional (Class 3A Sectional 8) and will play the winner of the match between Anderson and No. 2 Noblesville in a semifinal contest on Oct. 10.
The first 15 minutes were dominated by Hamilton Southeastern. The Royals controlled possession, leading to a flurry of shots and corner kicks that the Mt. Vernon defense and Ava Stephenson, who played through a hamstring injury, handled accordingly.
Mt. Vernon drove the ball forward on multiple occasions but was unable to create any real threat.
“It’s not just Ava, we’re just a little banged up everywhere. It’s toward the end of the season and there are a lot of games crammed into a high school season. She’s a real tough kid and she played awesome,” Britt said of Stephenson.
Sydney May eventually opened the scoring for Hamilton Southeastern in the 22nd minute, after the ball ricocheted off Stephenson’s foot for a wide-open tap in goal from six yards out for her 15th goal of the season.
The remainder of the first half followed suit as Mt. Vernon struggled to hold on to the ball. Although the offense was struggling, the Mt. Vernon defense continued to deal with the top-level speed and creativity the Hamilton Southeastern attack possessed.
In the 54th minute, Mt. Vernon experienced some adversity after a yellow card on senior standout Kylie Brandes led to Britt being carded too. But after that moment, Mt. Vernon played at a level they had not reached in the game to that point.
However, their newfound energy was ended early after May doubled her tally on the night in the 58th minute by passing the ball through Stephenson’s legs.
“There was just some frustration out there. Kylie was a little frustrated, and the ref was apparently going to take no conversation. It just kind of happened really quick. So I just asked him, because he should have let me know. I wasn’t trying to go back and forth, but then he also very quickly gave me a card,” Britt said.
Mt. Vernon continued to play physically but were ultimately unable to spur the comeback attempt.
“We had a very specific gameplan. I thought Hamilton Southeastern also executed very well. There’s a lot of dangerous players there. But the goals they scored were unlucky on our end, but it’s not all just luck and chance. The girls did exactly what we wanted them to do, and I was happy,” Britt said.
