For about half of Wednesday night’s girls soccer showdown with Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference rival Carmel, Center Grove looked like a team ready to claim the league title and avenge last year’s semistate defeat.
The second half, though, was an entirely different story.
The visiting Greyhounds scored two quick goals and kept the pressure on the rest of the way, pulling away late for a 5-1 triumph and spoiling the Trojans’ regular-season finale.
Center Grove coach Mike Bishop didn’t believe the final score was indicative of how his team played for much of the night.
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"We just had to get a ball here, a touch there, play a little smarter ball when we had the opportunities to get them to turn and chase," he said. "We just missed here, just missed there, and weren’t able to get enough generated at the critical times to keep the momentum going."
After a scoreless first half, Carmel (13-0-3, 7-0) took command by scoring twice in a span of three and a half minutes. Emma Antoine broke the ice by lofting a short shot just out of the reach of Trojan goalkeeper Kelti Wise with 30:11 remaining in the match, and Emily Roper knocked home a second effort at the 26:50 mark after her first shot hit the right post.
Paige Waskom cut the deficit in half with 22:13 to go when she made a run up the middle of the field, led Makayla Spangler up into the left side of the box, then punched in a perfect cross from Spangler right in front of the goal mouth.
"I knew if I played the ball wide, I could get in behind (the defender) and then the ball was played perfectly from Makayla from outside," Waskom said.
But that was as close as the Trojans (13-2-1, 5-1-1) got. The Greyhounds took the wind out of Center Grove’s sails with a pair of Kelsie James goals, the second one stretching the visitors’ lead to three with 11:02 on the clock. A Susie Soderstrom tally capped the scoring for Carmel.
Both sides had scoring chances during the first half, with Center Grove controlling play for most of the first 15 minutes and Carmel making a late charge. The Trojans’ best opportunity came in the 23rd minute, when Kayli Farmer put her corner kick on goal. Greyhounds netminder Erin Baker deflected the ball out, and Macy Detty’s header off the rebound popped over the crossbar.
"We had a good run of play for a long time in the first half," Bishop said. "Had our opportunities, missed one, keeper saved another one. We put those in, it’s a lot different mentality on both parts in the second half."
The visitors put a ball in the net with about six minutes to go in the half, but it was waved off when James was whistled for offsides.
Wise finished with six saves in defeat for the Trojans, who will begin sectional play on their home turf next Tuesday against Greenwood.
"We’ll come back and get back to it in the tournament," Bishop said.
