FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon’s ticket for a trip to the sectional semifinals was laying right there in front of the goal.
Katie Gawrys made sure New Palestine didn’t grab it.
Gawrys beat Dragons’ goalkeeper Riley Moss to a ball that Moss wasn’t able to corral after a save on a Maddie Swingle attempt. Gawrys tapped it in before Moss could take it for a 2-1 Marauders lead with 16:32 left in the game.
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It was the final tally of Tuesday’s contest at Mt. Vernon High School. The 2-1 win punches the Marauders ticket for another county rivalry showdown. Mt. Vernon (12-5) will meet up with Greenfield-Central (14-2) in the first of two semifinal matches Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
“It was exhilarating,” Gawrys said of scoring the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal. “I saw it and watched Maddie hit it and it was there. I ran as fast as I could and just happened to get a touch on it.
“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but as soon as I saw the goalie go down, I started running. She just happened to bobble it and I just happened to be there.”
“That’s Katie’s kind of game. She’s scrappy,” Mt. Vernon coach Steve Williams said. “She gets after it. That’s in her wheelhouse to get after a ball that’s laying in front of the goal. She just kind of muscled the ball in.”
It was the only goal of the second half and it was Gawrys’ 10th goal of the season.
New Palestine tied it up with 5:18 left in the first half. Olivia Murphy took a pass from Addie Halter and lofted an attempt over Mt. Vernon goalkeeper Alex Overshiner to knot the match at 1-1. It was Murphy’s fourth goal of the season.
Mt. Vernon had taken a 1-0 lead with 29:03 left in the first period. Anna Isger scored her team-high 13th goal of the season. She also had one of the scores in Mt. Vernon’s 2-0 regular season win over New Palestine on Sept. 11.
“They had a great game plan,” Williams said of the Dragons. “They really got after it and you could tell they wanted it bad. They played a little more direct and it helped them.”
It was Mt. Vernon’s fourth straight win.
New Palestine finishes 9-6-2 on the year.
“It was a tough game. We played them earlier in the season and lost 2-0. We came in with a different game plan and it worked,” New Palestine coach Erin Clark said of her team being more competitive in the second meeting of the season. “The girls were playing fantastic. To take Mt. Vernon to a 2-1 game and have some chances toward the end of the game, I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“Last time we played more defensive-minded. We played with a different formation (Tuesday) with people in different spots. We’re young and we played more subs.”
It was New Palestine’s first sectional loss since 2016. The Dragons won the sectional the last two years, playing in Class 2A. In 2016, they lost to Mt. Vernon in a Class 2A semifinal match, 3-1.
The Marauders handed Greenfield-Central one of its two regular-season losses, beating the Cougars 5-2 on Aug. 26. Shay Shipley had three goals for Mt. Vernon in the early-season win.
It is the second straight year the two rivals have met in Class 3A Sectional 12. Mt. Vernon beat Greenfield-Central in a penalty-kick shootout last season.
