RUSHVILLE — The ball became airborne during a rapid-fire exchange at midfield, and New Palestine’s Lydia Waters collided with one of Connersville’s defenders in mid-jump.
Waters safely deflected the ball with a header, but she clunked heads with the other player in the process; the contact between noggins made an audible “thud.” The folks in the stands emitted a gasp, but Waters shook it off and kept running upfield.
Later on, while juggling the ball around Connersville’s forward, Dragons defender Gracie Voelz tripped and flopped head over heels, landing in an awkward position on her neck. Without skipping a beat, Voelz popped back up before her teammates or coach could worry.
Moments later, Victoria Crowder sustained yet another nasty headbutt during yet another mid-air collision. Strike after strike, yet the Dragons kept on coming. That kind of determination isn’t something they were taught, New Palestine head coach Gina Fannin said. If you’re playing to win, you’ve got to play tough, she said.
If there was one trait that helped define the Dragons’ first game in the IHSAA Girls Soccer sectionals Tuesday, it was grit. That toughness will hopefully give them a competitive push as they go on to face Beech Grove on Thursday after a 4-0 win, Fannin said.
“It’s one of those things they have to find within themselves,” she said. “I can coach them tactics and technical skills. But the pure heart, that’s in them … You’re gonna get knocked around, and you have to be able to get back up.”
Connersville focused exclusively on doubling down their defense throughout the game, which brought New Palestine a frustrating challenge, Fannin said. The Dragons spent the first half-hour of the game attempting to penetrate the Spartans’ phalanx of defenders.
Ten minutes before the halftime buzzer, Haley Harrison finally wrestled her way through a crowd surrounding the ball close to Connersville’s goal, snapping the ball into the net for New Palestine’s first score.
They’d secured a 1-0 lead before moving on to the second half.
The battle against the Spartans stubborn defense continued on well into the second half. But with 12 minutes left in the game, the Dragons adjusted their strategy by putting three players in the back and one more up front to help the offense push through.
The Dragons finally broke through and began stacking up the scores.
After repelling the initial offensives launched by the Spartans, Crowder was fouled near the goal during the Dragons’ counter attack. She zipped the following penalty kick into the corner of the goal.
Shortly after Crowder’s PK, New Palestine’s Megan Jolly and Emmy Giddens added two consecutive unassisted goals, cementing the Dragons’ lead.
New Palestine is headed for Thursday’s semifinals, and they’re hoping for a better fight, Fannin said. She doesn’t want the team’s tough spirit to go to waste.
“We’ve got 13 seniors on the team, and they don’t want this to be their last game,” Fannin said.
