Center Grove boys earn victory at Carmel

CARMEL

The Center Grove and Carmel boys’ soccer teams had endured struggles you wouldn’t necessarily associate with state-ranked teams leading into their Metropolitan Conference matchup Thursday.

The Trojans, ranked 11th in Class 3A, had lost two of their last three matches. The seventh-ranked Greyhounds had tied all three of theirs, and only managed one goal during that stretch.

Center Grove kept Carmel out of the net again, so Nick Shirer’s goal with 28:12 remaining was all the Trojans needed to secure a 1-0 MIC victory.

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“I felt like we could have gotten a lot more, but one was enough,” Shirer said. “Our defense was really solid. We’re excited for the rest of the season. Carmel’s been a rival forever, and it’s just a big win.”

Center Grove (5-2) had to survive a couple of scares with about a minute remaining, when the Greyhounds narrowly missed a pair of shots on goal, but thanks in large part to Richard DeChant dribbling out the clock, the Trojans kept Carmel (0-1-3 overall, 0-1 MIC) from any making any more threats.

“The very end was a little (nerve-wracking), but they did a great job of just doing simple things, and if we play simple, we are really hard to beat,” Center Grove coach Jameson McLaughlin said. “I have a lot of awesome young men that believe in each other and work hard, and they just stuck to it. They didn’t panic, they stood their ground and they got the ball cleared out. (Goalkeeper Garrett Wade) didn’t have a lot of saves to make, but he did a good job of not hurrying when we shouldn’t hurry and he just played smart.”

The Trojans kept the ball on Carmel’s end of the pitch the majority of the first half, but weren’t able to generate any goals. They totaled six corner-kick attempts overall to the Greyhounds’ two, including four in the first half.

On Center Grove’s second-half goal, midfielder Jack Neal streaked up the left sideline, where the Trojans seemed to have a speed advantage for much of the night, and centered the ball to Luke Boha. The senior didn’t have a good angle on the goal, but was able to tap the ball to Shirer, who was streaking in from the right side and put the ball just past Carmel goalkeeper Brody Sullivan’s outstretched arms.

“(Wednesday) in practice, we worked on getting the ball down to the end line and cutting it back, and about two minutes before (the goal), I said, ‘Jack, what did we work on yesterday?’ and said let’s try it,” McLaughlin said. “(Shirer) just worked hard and put the ball in the net.”

“I was kind of just holding my run and waiting for the right moment,” Shirer said. “When it was hit, I knew it was going to bounce back or go in for a cross, so I was trying to be there in the right place at the right time.”

Center Grove is off until Tuesday, when it will play at Columbus North.