NEW PALESTINE — It took all of four minutes for New Palestine to settle in to the 2019 girls soccer season.
A pass from freshman Anna Luker met the foot of junior Addie Halter, whose perfect run to the top of the box split the Perry Meridian defense, setting up a one-on-one with Falcons keeper Riley Bradbury.
Halter’s shot found the back of the net, putting the Dragons up one and settling down any start-of-season nerves.
“Right before we went on the field, that’s what we talked about,” New Palestine coach Erin Clark said. “Get a goal early. We did that in the scrimmage. You’ve got to set the tone at the beginning of the game. They did that, they went out and scored and kind of set the tone for the rest of the game.”
Maddy Miller scored just over nine minutes later and Luker followed with a goal of her own a minute after that. The Dragons cruised from there, opening the 2019 season with a 6-0 win.
“It’s early, obviously, but they played really well,” Clark said. “We’ve been working on a lot of different things the last two weeks of practice, and everything we worked on, they put into play in that game. They’re doing a great job coming together.”
Miller scored again with under four minutes to go in the first half, taking the ball from beyond midfield, beating two defenders on the dribble and scoring from just outside the box. Izzy Myers followed suit 37 seconds later, giving the hosts a five-goal halftime advantage with an unassisted goal of her own.
Myers was one of four freshmen to start the game for the Dragons. Luker was another, as were defenders Maddy Potter and Sydney Miller.
Clark was impressed with the play of all four.
“They did not look like freshmen. They did not play like freshmen,” Clark said. “You wouldn’t have been able to tell who was a freshman tonight.”
The Dragons outshot the Falcons 18-1 in the first half, with nine shots on goal to Perry Meridian’s zero. It took 27 minutes before the Falcons launched their first shot of the game, which sailed wide.
Perry Meridian ended the game with a handful of shots but none on goal, as New Palestine keeper Haley Weinrich never needed to make a save. It was the Dragons’ fourth straight time shutting out the Falcons, dating back to 2014.
Only one goal was scored in the second half, off a penalty kick with just over 11 minutes remaining. New Palestine’s Lucy Miller put the ball in the upper left corner of the net, giving the Dragons the final margin of victory.
The result was similar to a year ago, when the Dragons opened the 2018 season with a 7-0 win against the Falcons. This is a very different New Palestine team, though, and there is room to grow despite the big win.
“They’re all so young, really they’ve not played together except for a few of them. Just learning each other is probably the biggest thing,” Clark said. “What kind of ball to play to who, where people are going to be. There were a lot of balls they played into certain spaces today where they thought a player was going to be and they weren’t. So just getting to know each other more, predict where they are going to be is probably the biggest thing.”
The Dragons will look for their first road win on Wednesday at Triton Central.