KNIGHTSTOWN
The reality that his team’s season was over produced tears Brady Wright seemed powerless to stop.
Wright, a junior defender for the Greenwood Christian Academy boys soccer team, let his emotions out following Saturday afternoon’s 3-0 loss to Class A No. 1 Covenant Christian in a semifinal at the Knightstown Regional.
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“It’s pretty hard. We have four great seniors on the team, and we’re going to miss them so much,” Wright said. “I think we played one of our best games. I think we can learn from this.”
The Cougars, who won their third sectional title in five years, finished with a record of 14-4-1.
Covenant Christian took command early, leading 2-0 at the half on free-kick goals by Austin Wagner and Braden Havics at 23:36 and 11:35, respectively. The Warriors tacked on a third score seven minutes into the second half when J.P. David found the back of the net.
Once in each half it appeared Greenwood Christian had scored; the goals, however, were nullified due to player interference.
“We knew they had some talented players. I told our guys at the end of the day we have to control the midfield, we have control the tempo and we have to out-possess them,” Covenant Christian coach David Pfeifer said.
“I think that’s how we were able to handle some of their individual players and the overall flow of play.”
Covenant Christian, a state finalist in 2012, benefits from facing a demanding regular-season schedule. The Warriors’ four setbacks came against much larger schools — two to Cathedral and one each against both Brebeuf and Avon.
Greenwood Christian’s graduation losses are midfielders Gerrit Huizinga and Daniel Cho along with defenders Gavin McCabe and Micah Loy. Huizinga finished his final high school season tied with freshmen Jonathan Amador and Styles McCorkle for the most goals with nine.
Huizinga’s 12 assists and 30 points this season were team bests.
First-year Greenwood Christian Academy coach George Huizinga, whose squad came in ranked 12th in Class A, was pleased with the Cougars’ effort on Saturday.
“(Covenant) is a very well-coached team, and they were a little more skilled than we were,” he said. “They were the deserving winner. But we played hard and came together at the end of the year.
“We don’t have any superstars. We’ve got a lot of guys that play hard and play well together. That’s what you want to see out of your team.”
