NEW PALESTINE — Two quick passes, the first from Alexi Hardie to Rylie Pearson and the second from Pearson to Cleo Mills, put Mt. Vernon right where it wanted to be Wednesday night.
Mills, the leading goal-scorer in the county coming into Wednesday’s games, found herself one on one with New Palestine keeper Haley Weinrich just 14 minutes into the rivalry match.
She calmly put the ball in the bottom corner of the net, giving the undefeated visitors an early first-half lead.
“If she gets a step and she gets toward the goal, usually it’s money,” Mt. Vernon coach Steve Williams said. “You think she’s going to score. It’s unusual if she doesn’t. She’s a very thoughtful player. She won’t just overhit it — she’ll tuck it away into one of the corners. She’s really smart. She’s been playing at a high level for a long time.”
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It was the first of three goals on the night for Mills, who led the way in a 5-0 win for the Marauders, preserving their perfect record to start the season.
Hardie added to the Mt. Vernon’s early lead on a free kick minutes after Mills’ first goal. Weinrich got her hands on the ball but it snuck past, and just like that Mt. Vernon had a 2-0 lead.
Mills pushed the Marauders lead to three a minute into the second half when she again found herself one on one with Weinrich and again beat the keeper.
Hardie and Mills finished off the scoring for the Marauders in the final dozen minutes of the game. Hardie forced a turnover with 11 minutes remaining and took the ball into the box herself, getting a shot past Weinrich.
Mills notched her third goal of the game just four minutes later for the hat trick.
“That’s a really unusual game for us with New Pal,” Williams said. “I can’t remember in history where we’ve been able to clear the bench with New Pal. Normally these games go right down to the wire, no matter how good we are, how good they are.”
Mt. Vernon (9-0, 4-0 Hoosier Heritage Conference) had several chances to extend its lead in the first half, only to be denied by Weinrich. The Dragons keeper had a half-dozen saves in the half, none more important than one following a corner with 12 minutes left in the half.
The corner led to a loose ball in the center of the box and a clean shot from the Marauders. Weinrich got a foot to the shot, kicking it away for an impressive save.
Weinrich had several big saves in the second half, knocking away shot after shot to keep her team within striking distance before the two late goals put the game out of reach.
“She came out ready to play and that’s what we asked of her,” New Palestine coach Gina Fannin said. “She’s been working really hard. She just was determined to come out, ready to play. It wasn’t anything special — she just made stops she needed to make and a few went in.”
The Dragons’ best chance in the game came with 13 minutes remaining in the first half. A perfect through ball from the midfield to Victoria Crowder put the Dragons in position to halve the lead. Crowder, behind the defense, fired off a shot that got above and past Mt. Vernon keeper Jaici Wright, only to watch it smack the crossbar and go over.
“I thought we played pretty well. We were trying to play simple balls to each other, utilize the width as well. We tried to do that, and I thought we did it well at times,” Fannin said. “Then there’s the times where we know it’s Mt. Vernon, so we back up and try to defend. They’re a good team. It’s hard when you’re defending against them to get your offense really going. We had a couple of good looks, but we didn’t capitalize on those.”
Wright had a fairly quiet night in net. The Dragons (5-3, 2-1) couldn’t find space for many shots throughout the game, only getting a handful on goal, all of which she corralled.
That’s something Mt. Vernon’s coach attributed to strong defensive play.
“I think our D in the midfield and D in the back is good to where we score a couple of goals and we’re good,” Williams said. “It got a little scary there a couple times, though.”