GREENFIELD — There was no more fitting way for it to end.
In a hard-fought game between county rivals Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central in the first round of girls soccer sectionals, it almost had to come down to penalty kicks.
Mt. Vernon keeper Jaici Wright started the shootout with a stop of Cougars star Lucy Brand, setting the tone for the rest of the shootout.
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After a 2-2 finish to regulation that saw the Cougars storm back from a two-goal deficit, the Marauders converted three of their four shootout attempts, winning 3-1 in penalties.
“Jaici’s worked harder than anybody,” Mt. Vernon coach Steve Williams said. “She’s the most improved player on our team, for real. That’s been from her freshman year until now, she’s a totally different player. She did an awesome job.
“That’s a keeper’s dream, in the shootout to do something like that.”
Wright stopped Anne Marie DeKeyser on the Cougars’ fourth shootout attempt, setting up Shay Shipley for the game-winner.
“That’s a sectional game, there,” Williams said. “What a fight. Those kids, they gave everything. We were fortunate. This was a battle.”
Greenfield-Central coach Erin Clark agreed.
She saw her team fall behind two goals before halftime, only to come back in the second half to send the game into overtime.
“There is not a player on this team who played tonight that has anything left,” Clark said. “Everything on the field. Everything. To be down to Mt. Vernon 2-0 and come back and take it to PKs, amazing. Nothing more you can ask of your team.”
Greenfield-Central was looking to avenge one of its two losses from the regular season, a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Marauders on Aug. 30.
They had to wait a bit longer than planned, though. A lightning delay just nine minutes into a scoreless game stalled things for over an hour, but once the teams came out of the break, the Marauders struck fast.
Alexi Hardie scored just three minutes after the restart on a free kick, giving Mt. Vernon the early 1-0 lead. Shipley scored off a Cougars turnover with nine minutes left in the half, doubling the lead for the Marauders going into the break.
Hardie had hurt the Cougars in the teams’ previous meeting this year, a 3-1 Mt. Vernon win on Aug. 30. She had two goals in that game, leading the Marauders to a big early-season conference win.
Since that time, each team had lost just once. Greenfield-Central dropped a match against another county rival, New Palestine, while the Marauders had their only defeat of the season against top-ranked Hamilton Southeastern.
Mt. Vernon ran the table in the conference after opening HHC play with the win against the Cougars.
Greenfield-Central made the Marauders earn their win with some lightning-quick strikes of their own and a whole lot of resilience.
Rita-Aguye Cots halved the Mt. Vernon lead with 26:50 left in the game off a shot she powered through Wright, giving the hosts momentum in the final half-hour of their comeback attempt. Kelsi McLaughlin took a perfectly-lobbed through ball in the box past Wright, hitting the post before putting in her own rebound just seven minutes after Cots’ goal, tying the game.
But Wright, as she did several times in the first half, shut the door on the Cougars’ comeback hopes in the penalty shootout.
“I’m proud,” Williams said. “(Greenfield-Central) came back and we were kind of down there for a little bit, but this game was destined to go to some kind of shootout. It was, holy cow, emotional. Emotional win.”
The Marauders advance to Thursday’s 5 p.m. semifinal game against Richmond, who eliminated defending sectional champion East Central 1-0 in Tuesday’s early game.