INDIANAPOLIS — With a spot in the sectional championship on the line, two teams that had already battled one another this season – New Palestine and Greenwood – met at Perry Meridian High School for Round No. 2.
In mid-September, the Woodmen erased a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat the Dragons 2-1.
On Wednesday, they did so once again, but this time Greenwood’s 2-1 victory put an end to the Dragons’ season.
“In both games, I think that we looked like the better team. There was no reason for us not to have won,” New Palestine head coach Juan Diaz de Leon said. “That first game was one we wanted back, and we had every opportunity to do that. Soccer is strange. When the balls not on your side, it doesn’t matter if you’re the best player, sometimes they just won’t fall in.”
As they did in the first meeting, the Dragons controlled possession, took more corner kicks, had more total shot attempts and sent more shots on net.
In a first half in which New Palestine outshot the Woodmen 9-5, they were only able to find the back of the net once.
With 3:08 to go, on a deep pass played towards the Greenwood box, Cole Christopher beat Woodmen goalkeeper Braden Reynolds to the ball, got around him and tapped in the first goal of the night.
Seconds later, New Palestine goalkeeper Jake Wells denied a point-blank shot by Greenwood’s Braedan Townsend to send the Dragons into the break up 1-0.
“It’s two different halves. That was my message. We were still feeling some stuff from the last game [a first-round win Monday over Greenfield-Central], and we were trying to accommodate that, but at this level when it could be the last game of the season, you have to put everything into it,” Greenwood head coach Dan Priscu said. “The message was to find whatever was needed on the inside because in the first half, we were missing some of the principles that we normally play with.”
After the break, the Dragons were on the attack most of the half once again and controlled possession, but when the Woodmen got their opportunities, they made sure they counted.
Five minutes into the half, Emmanuel Jackson headed the ball to Samuel Thompson who was able to beat Wells with a header of his own to knot things at 1-1.
At the 28-minute mark, Greenwood’s Brayden Wright got past Wells who came out to play the ball and broke free on net to score the decisive goal.
The Dragons sent two shots on net in the second half and took six total shots, but couldn’t get much by the Greenwood backline.
“That group is a lot of seniors and some guys that have been here for a while,” Priscu said. “They know how to communicate and stand tall when needed, but it was a fight.”
Midway through the half, New Palestine’s Paxton Holmes sent a hard shot on net that was saved by Reynolds, a few minutes later Christopher sent a shot just wide, and later in the half, a Mark Everett shot was denied by Reynolds.
With 11 minutes to go, New Palestine senior Eli Martin sent a free kick towards net that went over the head of Reynolds but was headed out of play by a Woodmen defender.
For the final 10 minutes, the Dragons made a triple substitution to put in more speed to help apply pressure on the attack. Up until that point, they had subbed just six times, while the Woodmen had subbed 20 times.
“Not at all, If anything I think it helped,” Diaz de Leon said of the substitution difference. “The last 10 minutes we transitioned to some fast guys in the back and got guys out.”
In the closing seconds, with the Dragons on the attack, a collision in the box went uncalled and an ensuing foul on New Palestine allowed the Woodmen to run the clock out.
The Dragons finished 7-9-1 in Diaz de Leon’s first season with the team.
“You’ve got to take it one game at a time and build on this. I came in a little bit late to the preparation for this season,” he said. “Now, next season starts tomorrow.”
