Girls soccer sectional preview

After last week’s loss to Carmel in the regular-season finale, the Center Grove girls soccer team didn’t appear to be dwelling on the defeat.

That’s not to say that the Trojans will completely forget it, but the team seemed to be bolstered by a confidence that there will be a chance for payback before season’s end.

Last year’s run to the Class 3A semistate was nice, they figure, but the eighth-ranked Trojans clearly want to extend their tournament lives by one more week this fall and give themselves a shot at their first-ever state championship. Center Grove has made the final just once before, losing in the 1997 title game to … yup, Carmel.

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To make it there this year, Center Grove would likely need to knock off the second-ranked Greyhounds in the semistate.

“We expect it,” Kelti Wise, the Trojans’ senior goalkeeper, said of a possible Carmel rematch. “I think our fans and families expect it; our coach expects it. I feel like what happened (last week) will just help us in the long run — we’re expecting to meet them again, and I hope they expect to meet us again.”

Of course, the Trojans (13-2-1) will have some work to do in order to earn that date, starting with today’s tournament opener tonight against Greenwood.

The sectional was a bit of a revenge tour for the Trojans last year; after losing to Columbus East and Columbus North in the regular season, they beat both by identical 2-0 scores in postseason rematches. There’s no such incentive this time around, as Center Grove opened the 2019 campaign with a 4-1 win over the Bull Dogs and overwhelmed the Olympians 7-1 less than two weeks ago.

Still, this week won’t necessarily be a walkover. Columbus North comes in as the No. 11 team in Class 3A. Center Grove could also see either No. 4 Evansville Memorial or No. 5 Castle in the regional, as well as No. 12 Bloomington South, which is again hosting.

Despite losing more than half of its 2018 goal scoring to graduation, the Trojans have had no problem at all generating offense — they’ve already scored more times (82) going into the postseason than they did all of last season (78). And while Macy Detty has emerged as the go-to girl up top with 21 goals and seven assists, she’s far from the only threat in the lineup.

Fourteen different players have put the ball into the nylon this fall, with Jostin Reeves (16 goals), Emily Karr (12) and Paige Waskom (10) joining Detty in double digits. Waskom’s 12 assists are just one back of team leader Peyton Murphy.

Waskom cites team chemistry as a primary factor in that increased output.

“Not only are we friends on the field, but we’re friends off the field,” the junior midfielder said. “Last year — I’m not saying that we didn’t have a connection off the field, but this year we’ve gotten together more just to bond with each other outside of the soccer field, and I think that’s gotten us closer on the field and made our performance even better.”

Because the players are so close with one another, there’s an even greater desire to make it all the way to the end of the road. Getting to semistate a year ago was somewhat satisfying after the Trojans were upset in the sectional in 2017, but it also left them wanting those two additional wins.

“We have it in the back of our heads that we made it to semistate last year, but we want to make it farther this year,” Wise said. “We’ve always gone farther than what we had (the previous year), so we use the experience to propel us forward.”

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Class 3A Center Grove Sectional

Today

Center Grove vs. Greenwood, 5 p.m.

Whiteland vs. Columbus North, 7 p.m.

Thursday

Today’s winners, 5 p.m.

Franklin vs. Columbus East, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Championship, 7 p.m.

Class A Triton Central Sectional

Today

Park Tudor vs. Indianapolis Lutheran, 5 p.m.

Heritage Christian vs. Greenwood Christian, 7 p.m.

Thursday

Today’s winners, 5 p.m.

Triton Central vs. Scecina, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Championship, 7 p.m.

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Class 3A Center Grove Sectional

Players to watch: Center Grove — Macy Detty, Emily Karr, Jostin Reeves, Paige Waskom, Kelti Wise; Columbus East — Jaeda Berkemeier, Alana Dwenger, Elena Stoughton; Columbus North — Caroline Hollenkamp, Jenna Lang, Lauryn Whitley; Franklin — Emma Genter, Addison Marshall, Emma Williams; Greenwood — Olivia Brawley, Masha Graber, Emily Metzger; Whiteland — Haley Achs, Sarah Turcotte

What to expect: Realistically, this sectional will probably boil down to a likely semifinal match between the eighth-ranked Trojans and No. 11 Columbus North — and on its own home turf, Center Grove has to be considered a favorite, especially given its 4-1 victory over the Bull Dogs in the season opener. A young Franklin team will try to sneak into the final on the bottom side of the draw by knocking off Columbus East.

Class A Triton Central Sectional

Players to watch: Greenwood Christian — Cassie Bigelow, Ellie Bigelow, Adeline Jolley, Cameron Northern; Heritage Christian — Brynna Moore, Tamia Stott; Indianapolis Lutheran — Maddison Awrey, Lauren Hedges; Park Tudor — Sarah Hartman, Katie Hur, Colina Miroff, Jenny Walker; Scecina — Madelynn Martin, Olivia Smith; Triton Central — Elizabeth Graham, Sarah Hahn

What to expect: The draw couldn’t have been much more unkind to the Cougars, who will need to beat the two best teams in the field (No. 8 Heritage and No. 2 Park Tudor) just to make the final. GCA may have a puncher’s chance in its opener thanks to Northern, the state’s second-leading scorer; taking down the Panthers, who reached the state final last year, would take the performance of a lifetime from the entire team.

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