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GREENCASTLE GIRLS' SOCCER SECTIONAL FINAL: Tiger Cubs win back-to-back titles after 3-0 win over Trojans
For a half, the final of IHSAA Girls’ Soccer Class A Sectional No. 40 was finely poised between Greencastle and Covington.
Two minutes into the second half it was the Tiger Cubs’ match to lose and the defending sectional champs had no intentions of doing so, adding a pair of goals to claim their second title in a row with a 3-0 win over the Trojans Saturday afternoon.
“It is amazing,” Dobbs said about winning consecutive sectional titles. “The girls have had their eyes on this the whole season.
“Not only is it awesome to piggyback off the success the girls had last season under (former Greencastle head coach Scott Monnett) but its extra special with three moms of players on this team coaching.”
The two teams met at the start of the season, a 3-1 win for Greencastle, though Covington had gone on to record 10 wins between the time the two teams met in August.
It took seven minutes before either side had a shot in earnest as Greencastle’s Emily Hunsinger saw a shot from distance fall safely into Rhyane Beck’s hands.
Covington replied when a free kick was not cleared and Kenzie Gassaway saw a lobbed shot sail past Izzy Camera’s post while Chloe Whittington sent in another long shot that was on the wrong side of Camera’s post.
Following a period where both teams battled for control in the midfield, the Tiger Cubs had a flurry of offense with Hunsinger shooting straight at Beck, Dobbs unable to redirect a corner from Jacey Call and a Dobbs free kick that required the Trojans to scramble out a clearance.
Inside the final five minutes of the first half Eva Battin sent a through ball in that Beck bobbled but Lauren Dibble’s attempted chip floated over the bar while Dobbs beat a pair of defenders but sent a rasping shot wide of goal as the match remained at 0-0 at the break.
“We keep telling them, just like the first two sectional teams, to not underestimate (Covington),” Dobbs said about the slow start to the match. “They’ve played other teams on our schedule really close or won.
“Covington is very well coached and seeing how well they’ve developed as a team is incredible. It was frustrating at times because we felt like the away team as the Covington fanbase was loud and excited.”
It took two minutes for the hosts to change the course of the match when Call ran down the right and aimed toward goal.
The shot deflected off a defender and the spin fooled Beck as the ball spun inside her left-hand post and in for a 1-0 lead.
“We needed to swing the momentum and we knew when Jacey hit that shot, that was the moment,” Dobbs said about the opener. “That changed the girls’ focus, their energy level and the momentum level.”
Covington struggled to find any looks to close the deficit over the next few minutes while Battin had a shot go wide and Dobbs saw a low effort blocked well by Beck.
It took a little creativity to catch the Trojans off guard and it came from a deep free kick.
Dobbs, normally around the ball for set pieces, instead drifted to the top of the box while Lilly Welch eyed up the ball.
Welch played a short pass to Dobbs who evaded one defender and slammed the ball into the top of the net to double Greencastle’s advantage 15 minutes into the half.
“We’ve been talking to (Ali) about using her in different ways as other teams plan around her,” Dobbs said about the second goal. “We want to utilize some other players to make things happen and she responded well to that.”
The Tiger Cubs sealed the deal four minutes later as Beck handled outside of the box and Dobbs, who had not had the best day over free kicks, got the ball up and down over the wall and in to make it 3-0 with 21 minutes left to play.
Covington had two chances to cut into the deficit as Whittington sent in a dangerous free kick but no Trojan was able to get a touch on the ball while a goalmouth scramble in the final 10 minutes came about as Camera missed a through ball but the home defense cleared off the line to preserve the clean sheet before the final horn sounded.
Greencastle will host a new face in Lapel in the regional semifinal round Wednesday at 6 p.m with the winner advancing to the regional final at Taylor on Saturday.
The Bulldogs, having evaded an upset against Tipton before downing Tri-Central to win the Tipton Sectional, are only in their third year as a program but rattled off 17 wins and has plenty of firepower at their disposal with four players scoring 10 or more goals, including sophomore Leila Wilson, who has an eye-popping 47 goals on the season, while Sophie Wilson has scored 29 times.
“We might not know much about (Lapel) and how they’ve played but we can still watch film and see how other teams have played them,” Dobbs said about preparations for the regional round. “The girls have responded really well to that.
“They enjoy figuring out how to change their style of play but stay true to how they are as players.”