Whiteland’s girls soccer team went the whole regular season without defeating a Mid-State Conference opponent — but if it was only going to get one such victory, then Tuesday was the right time for it.
The Warriors avenged an earlier setback by routing Greenwood, 4-1, in the opening round of the Class 3A sectional at Break-O-Day Elementary School. The victory advances them into Thursday’s 5 p.m. semifinal against Center Grove, which defeated Franklin by the same 4-1 count in the second game of the evening.
After limping out to a 1-9-1 start this fall, Whiteland has now won four of its last six matches.
"We’ve clicked as a team recently, and we’ve found out how to play together," junior Sarah Turcotte said.
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Greenwood’s Shelby Hanson broke the ice just 5:06 into the opener, but the Warriors (5-11-1) answered back with a vengeance, scoring three times in a 10-minute span midway through the first half.
The tying goal came just before the 20-minute mark, when a long ball from Turcotte bounced off the crossbar but freshman Emma Gill was there to convert the putback.
Gill returned the favor with 12:30 on the clock, feeding Turcotte with a through pass to set up a breakaway goal. Just over two minutes later, senior Alaina LaPorte snuck a bouncing shot through a crowd and into the net.
Another breakaway goal, this one from Gill, stretched the Warriors’ lead to 4-1 with 2:29 left before the break, and the score didn’t change the rest of the way.
"We just keep getting better," Whiteland coach Nick Magdalinos said. "We’ve found some stuff we like toward the end of the year, the last few weeks, some stuff we thought worked for us."
Greenwood, which was a 2-0 winner over Whiteland back on Aug. 26, finishes the year with a 9-7 record.
In the nightcap, the Trojans (13-4) needed just 53 seconds to jump out in front, with Paige Waskom corralling a Peyton Murphy corner kick and knocking it in. Macy Detty knocked in a loose ball to make it 2-0 in the 18th minute, but Franklin responded when Mackenzie West outran the Center Grove defense and punched a shot into the right side of the net.
The Grizzly Cubs (8-9) stayed within one for much of the night thanks in large part to an array of spectacular saves from goalkeeper Addie Marshall. The dam finally broke in the 70th minute, however, when Center Grove’s Lexi Glover and Emily Karr scored goals 35 seconds apart to finally put the match on ice — but it was a tougher battle than the Trojans had wanted to face.
"Hats off to them," Center Grove coach Michael Bishop said of Franklin. "It was a hard effort and they gave us fits, and we didn’t adjust too well in the first half. We made some adjustments at halftime and came back at them, and we got a couple of late goals which made it look better. It was frustrating, but winning ugly is winning. It doesn’t matter."
Despite the defeat, the Grizzly Cubs were happy with the effort they put forth and are excited about the future.
"Our team chemistry has definitely grown stronger this year," Marshall said, "and I’m looking forward to taking that into next year."
Whiteland knows it will be a heavy underdog in Thursday’s match with Center Grove, but Magdalinos and his team aren’t going out without a fight.
"We’re going to show up, they’re going to show up, we’re going to put 80 minutes on the clock and we’re going to play," Magdalinos said.
"Anything can happen," Turcotte added.
