By Mike McGraw
Executive Director

FISHERS –There will be only one athlete’s name mentioned in this story. That is because THE Oct. 16 Hamilton Southeastern Sectional showdown between co-No. 1s Carmel and Noblesville was destined to be a game of heroism and cruel circumstance.

There should be no effort to diminish the former or heighten the latter. After all, how many times can you attend a sporting event and know factually beforehand that a No. 1 team in the state is going to go down?

That was the case Thursday as the Greyhounds and Millers were tied atop the poll of the state’s elite teams. With two teams as equally talented and familiar with one another as these two combatants, you also knew this was a game where a thousand plays would be forgotten, while one or two – for better or worse – would forever be remembered.

In the end, cruelty fell on Carmel and the hero’s mantel on Noblesville’s Jessica Craig. After 80 minutes of regulation, 14 minutes of overtime, and five penalty kicks from each team, Craig’s boot found the back of the net to allow Noblesville to win by a technical score of 1-0 (PK, 4-3).

From start to finish, this was a contest of mirror images. The initial 20 minutes of play were dominated by the Millers as play was almost exclusively in front of the Carmel net. But the Millers came away without a goal as they never really generated any serious scoring chances.

The Greyhounds eventually found their stride, and their plan of attacking down the middle of the field with long passes began to pay dividends. Carmel succeeded in stretching the field and neutralizing play in the final minutes of the first half.

The second stanza was exactly the opposite. Carmel began increasing the offensive pressure and, for most of the middle 20 minutes of the half, Noblesville could rarely manage to clear the ball past midfield.

Nonetheless, the Greyhounds were no more successful in generating quality shots than Noblesville had been in the first part of the game. As the final minutes ticked off the clock, most in attendance had already accepted that this one was going to overtime.

The first extra session was a reflection of the first half. Noblesville controlled most of the play, but to little avail. The second overtime was a reflection of the second half. Carmel mounted several runs off long passes down the center.

However, other than raising the collective blood pressure of the large crowd in the stands, the Greyhounds came away with nothing to show for it except tired legs.

So, Cruel Circumstance #1 arrived. Ninety-four minutes of excellent soccer between two courageous teams was reduced to penalty kicks. Yet even that could not break the summitry of this struggle.

Carmel kicked first in each round. After the first two kicks, Carmel had scored on its first and been stymied on the second, while Noblesville had connected twice.

The story was just the opposite on the next pair of attempts. The Greyhounds found the net on both, while Noblesville was stopped on one of the two.

Cruel Circumstance #2: The series of penalty kicks had become a sudden-death battle of single kicks.

Carmel was stopped on its fifth attempt. It was at that point that Craig calmly stepped up and netted the shot heard around Indiana.

That singular act melted two hours of extraordinary tension into the customary mirror image of celebration and dejection.

For Noblesville, this game will dissolve into a date with its next opponent: No. 5 Zionsville, a 2-1 winner over 11th-ranked host Hamilton Southeastern in the evening’s other semifinal.

For Carmel, it is Cruel Circumstance #3 – a winter of disappointment and a date with next season.

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