By Mike McGraw
Executive Director
INDIANAPOLIS ���?? Sixth-ranked Penn knocked off
two-time defending champion No. 4 Fort Wayne Dwenger, 1-0, Oct. 27 in the state
semifinals in order to reach the evening title tilt. For a long time Saturday
night, it looked as if that effort took too much out of them.
That was
long enough for No. 9 Indianapolis Cathedral to build an insurmountable ���?? er,
big enough â�?�¦ uh, barely â�?��?? lead on its way to the girls soccer state title at Kuntz Stadium.
As you
might guess from that statement, there is quite a story in this game.
In the
first half, it appeared Cathedral was simply too quick for the Kingsmen ���??
especially midfielder Mariah Whitaker, who ran by the Penn defense like it was
a picket fence for most of the initial period. Charge after charge by the Cathedral
offense did what it usually does in a soccer game: It resulted in goals.
The Fighting
Irish took a 1-0 lead 12:23 into the first half on a goal from midfielder Alex
Hall. It was followed by another from teammate Anna Parsons just past the 23-minute
mark.
And the
Irish, who had posted their own 1-0 semifinal victory over No. 8
Center Grove to advance,
weren���?�t done yet.
Natalie
Warner added another score with a little more than two minutes left before
halftime. In most if not all of the instances, the charge into Penn territory
was led by Whitaker.
There is
normally little motivation to stick around a 3-0 soccer game past the
intermission. To have left this one would have been a mistake, although those
on hand would not know it for awhile.
The second
half started much the same way the first had progressed. Cathedral looked to be
the quicker team and applied nearly constant pressure on the Penn goal. It
resulted in Whitaker getting her own goal shortly into the second half, and
Cathedral seemed destined for the championship.
It was,
after all, 4-0. However, a funny thing happened on the way to the coronation.
Suddenly,
the play ceased to take place constantly in front of the Penn goal, a change that
isn���?�t unusual considering it was about time for the Irish to go into defensive
mode. Pretty soon, there was increasing action in front of the Cathedral net.
That, in
turn, ended in a seemingly rather harmless Penn goal by Allison Sholtes just
before the midway point of the second half. Still, everyone was really just
waiting for the sand to run out of the hourglass.
Wrong.
The Penn
pressure continued to increase and, about five minutes later, Sarah Blaase
found paydirt. It was now 4-2, and that score succeeded in putting a little
fire back in the Penn faithful.
It nearly
became a raging inferno.
With just
over five minutes left, the Kingsmen would strike again. This time it was a
beautiful shot by Alyssa Johnston, and suddenly ���?? for a few precious seconds ���?? it
looked like this might become one of the great stories in Indiana high school sports.
It was,
however, a very few seconds because the goal was wiped out by an offside call
on Penn.
It was the
last gasp of a very valiant crew.
They say
in any sport that speed kills. In this instance, Cathedral had more than enough
to inflict lethal damage. The Irish may have tired late in the match, but for
most of the evening they were lightning.
Don���?�t be
surprised if these two see each other again in the coming years. Both squads are
very young and received solid contributions from a number of freshmen and
sophomores.
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