FORTVILLE — East Central had the Mt. Vernon Marauders on their heels for most of the first half of Saturday night’s girls soccer sectional championship. The Marauders withstood the barrage and took the game into the half scoreless.
They couldn’t hold for long in the second half.
The Trojans maintained possession for almost the entire first 15 minutes of the second half, finally getting a goal off a long shot from near midfield that took an awkward bounce past Mt. Vernon keeper Alex Overshiner.
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East Central scored again moments later, and that was more than the hosts could come back from. The Marauders saw their season end in the sectional final for the fourth straight year, eventually falling 3-0 to the visitors.
“They were more physical,” Mt. Vernon coach Steve Williams said. “The first half, we got after it. We never quit. That’s a good team. I don’t want to take anything away from East Central. I thought they owned us the first half. They just had more opportunities than we had.”
From the opening whistle, East Central put heavy pressure on the hosts. Mt. Vernon couldn’t quite get their bearings and maintain possession, but defensively held strong and only allowed a handful of shots on their goal.
Mt. Vernon tried to make halftime adjustments but saw the second half start the same way the first half did. East Central was in total control, eventually leading to their first and second goals.
It took the Marauders nearly 24 minutes before they got a shot off in the second half, as the Trojans kept the offensive pressure on and maintained possession almost exclusively on the Marauders side of the field.
The Marauders turned the pressure up once they fell behind, trying to counterattack and find some room on the offensive end of the field themselves. They had several quality scoring chances in the final 15 minutes of the game but never could capitalize on their opportunities.
The loss marks the fourth year in a row that Mt. Vernon fell short in a sectional final. It was the second time in three years that they East Central ousted them. In 2017, the teams met at Mt. Vernon. The Trojans won that game, 2-1.
Mt. Vernon lost last year’s sectional championship, 1-0, to Franklin Central. They lost to Greenfield-Central in a shootout in the 2016 finale.
The Marauders finish the season with a 13-6 record. Williams hopes the team can take Saturday’s loss as motivation moving forward, as nine of the 11 starters from 2019 will return next season.
“I’m not disappointed. I’m disappointed in the loss, but I’m not disappointed in the way we acted after we got down,” Williams said. “We didn’t hang our head, we kept playing, we kept pushing forward. Our girls didn’t quit one bit. I think they were mad. This will be good for us going forward.”