For the Daily Reporter
A record-setting evening for the Greenfield-Central boys’ soccer team held even more significance with the triumphant return of an injured starter Thursday in the host Cougars’ county battle against New Palestine.
On a night when senior Caleb Mundell broke the school record with his 37th and 38th assists, fellow senior Tyler Murphy notched a hat trick during his first game of the season. Murphy had been out with an ACL injury he suffered during the spring.
“I felt great,” Murphy said. “The support of my team has kept me going through the season. It’s always hard watching from the sideline, but it’s been great to see my team improve.”
It was appropriate for Murphy to return on Senior Night in a game dominated by the G-C seniors. Along with Murphy’s three goals, senior Zack Bell added two more and Mundell added one of his own in a dominant 6-0 victory.
“We’ve had an incredible group of seniors that have played since they were freshmen,” G-C varsity assistant coach Matt McConnell said. “(Tyler) has worked his butt off to get back. We knew he would be ready to play — he’s been itching to play all season.”
Murphy was limited to 20 minutes of action per doctor’s orders, but he made the most of it. Mundell made the most of his time as well and started the scoring just minutes into the game. On a throw-in deep in New Palestine territory, Mundell found teammate Bell, who deftly headed the ball into the upper corner.
“We practice that sometimes — not that much,” Mundell said. “The ball spins a little bit different than off a corner. (Zack) is always in the right place.”
The score put Mundell’s name in the record books, and he quickly added to the mark by assisting Murphy on a bomb near the top of the box.
“Caleb has been a rock for us,” McConnell said. “To see him get that record tonight is icing on the cake. Zack Bell is right there on the scoring record — he’s three away — and he’s close as well on the assist record. They kind of push each other.”
Bell continued the scoring midway through the half on an assist from Andrew Oakley, putting the Cougars up 3-0 at the half.
New Palestine held G-C off the board in the second half until a handball in the box set up a Murphy penalty-kick goal with 23 minutes remaining.
The Dragons continued to battle and appeared to have scored when senior Zack Martin drilled the back of the net on a deflection, but offsides had been called.
“The first half I think they were a bit intimidated,” New Palestine coach Justin Sass said. “Greenfield has some big names in the county, and they score a lot of goals. When you’re a team made up of a bunch of kids who don’t play club soccer going up against a team where every single one plays club soccer — it’s intimidating for them, and it showed. In the second half, we wanted to show we could complete and I think we did. Greenfield’s a good team, that’s for sure.”
A tightly contested second half was blown open at the end with goals by Mundell and Murphy in the final three minutes.
The Cougars improved to 9-1 on the season, while New Palestine dropped to 1-8-1. The Dragons’ goalkeeper, Brice Thompson, who was under heavy fire all night, finished with 10 saves.
