No. 5 Noblesville Edges Lady Tigers In Soccer Regional Final
Posted
Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
LOGANSPORT – It’s a sad reality of postseason play, but only one team can win.
The Warsaw Lady Tigers played beautiful soccer in Saturday night’s Class 3A regional final at Logansport High School, but when the final horn sounded they were on the wrong end of 2-1 game with fifth-ranked Noblesville.
The Lady Tigers, who advanced to the title tilt with a 3-2 come-from-behind win over McCutcheon in Saturday morning’s semifinal, finished the season with a 14-5-3 record.
Noblesville, a 1-0 semifinal winner over Carroll, improved to 14-2-3 and will play in the semistate Saturday against the winner of today’s South Bend Adams regional final between No. 1 Penn and No. 11 Munster.
“Noblesville is absolutely one of the fastest teams in the state,” said first-year Warsaw coach Jon Hoover. “They were able to cycle through their subs, and (Jenna Chatterton) and (Keeley Hoopingarner) were flying on the field. They’re gonna get their goals, it’s just the way it is. They’ve got that top-end speed.
“I felt like our girls did an excellent job sticking with them. To battle back from being down 1-0 to the No. 5 team in the state showed a lot of heart.
“I’m pleased with the way that we fought. We walk away from a 2-1 game and the initial thought is frustration, but we played some really good soccer tonight. I told them after the game that when two good teams play each other, one team has to lose. And tonight that just happened to be us. I think if we play that team 10 times, we win five and they win five. Tonight just wasn’t our night to get the victory, but I thought we played really well.”
As it turned out, the Lady Tigers’ last two losses of the year came to the Noblesville Millers, who pulled out a 3-2 win in Warsaw on Sept. 9.
In the 10 contests between the meetings with Noblesville, Warsaw was 8-0-2 and outscored its opponents 51-10.
Hoover admitted that when the regional field was set after sectional play, he was hoping to get another shot at Noblesville.
“Absolutely,” said Hoover. “As I’ve said before, I want to play the good teams, and Noblesville is one of the better teams in the state. You look at those games, and those are the games that refine your program, they make us better.
“We’ve seen the best in the state. We’ve competed with the best in the state. I feel like that’s what’s going to put us at that level as time goes on.”
The Millers, who won their second-straight regional title and the program’s sixth overall, took a 1-0 lead when junior Keeley Hoopingarner scored in the 28th minute.
The Lady Tigers found the equalizer in the 61st minute, as sophomore Abby Steffensmeier scored off an assist from classmate Delaney Taylor.
Noblesville junior Jewell Hensley netted the game-winner 10 minutes later, turning a pass from freshman Jenna Chatterton into a breakaway score.
Warsaw’s lone goal in the championship match put both Steffensmeier and Taylor in the Lady Tiger record book.
Steffensmeier, who scored two goals – including the game-winner against McCutcheon earlier in the day – finished the season with 28 goals, tying Liz Van Wormer’s single-season record.
Taylor’s 31st assist this season tied her with Ashley Kitchens for the most career assists in program history.
“I am really proud of our girls coming back and putting themselves in a position to win tonight,” said Hoover. “As difficult as it is to lose, I thought we played a decent game. Unfortunately, when two good teams play each other one has to go home frustrated.
“With that said, our team fought very hard and spent themselves for each other tonight. I’m proud of the way the seniors persevered this year. They set the bar really high for our underclassmen, and our program has benefited from their leadership.”
Warsaw’s roster included seven seniors – Chloe Snow, Kaitlyn Dailey, Brenna Shipley, Alexandra Koontz, Emma Pena, Sydney Wiedeman and Sarah Meade.
LOGANSPORT REGIONAL
(Final)
NOBLESVILLE 2, WARSAW 1
(Scoring)
N – Keeley Hoopingarner 28th min
W – Abby Steffensmeier (Delaney Taylor assist) 61st min
N – Jewell Hensley (Jenna Chatterton) 71st min
Records: Warsaw 14-5-3, Noblesville 14-2-3
(semifinal)
WARSAW 3, MCCUTCHEON 2
Warsaw goals: Abby Steffensmeier 2, Anna Sullivan 1
Warsaw assists: Brenna Buhrt 1, Anna Grill 1, Delaney Taylor 1
