GREENFIELD — Sporting a red hard hat late Wednesday night, New Palestine’s Allie Blum was ready to head for the Dragons’ team bus and collect her free submarine sandwich.
After scoring the game-tying goal in regulation and the game-winner in overtime, Blum deserved every morsel with a full days work finally behind her.
“We read this book called, ‘The Hard Hat,’ and it’s about a guy named George. He was an outstanding lacrosse player and teammate. The hard hat goes to the person that had the best effort, the best grit, best attitude, best hustle, was the best teammate. It goes to that player every game,” Blum said. “I got it tonight.”
Justifiably so, as Blum’s goal in the 72nd minute tied the game 1-1 against Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Greenfield-Central, and her second during the 84th minute gave New Palestine a 2-1 overtime victory.
“I’m so proud of everyone on this field for not giving up and having the grit, being patient with our balls and chasing the long balls. I’m just so proud,” Blum said.
The Dragons’ perseverance netted the program a second consecutive win and halted the Cougars’ (3-5, 1-3 HHC) three-game winning streak.
Greenfield-Central racked up three straight wins over the course of a six days and were attempting to reach .500 on the season.
Blum and the Dragons (8-2) had other ideas as New Palestine improved to 4-1 in the HHC.
“After the first half, all of us realized we needed to change our pace of play. I feel like in the second half, we showed that,” Blum said.
Bottled up by the Cougars stout defense, the Dragons were stuck in a scoreless tie after 40 minutes and the trend continued until the 58th minute.
A Courtney Vaughn unassisted goal on a long shot supplied Greenfield-Central with the lead and a chance to upset the visiting Dragons.
Vaughn’s goal unfolded off a corner kick initiated by the junior, who followed the play and cleaned it up from more than 20 yards out.
“The second half, they had one shot on goal. The only shot they had, but it was a beautiful shot,” New Palestine head coach Erin Clark said.
“First half, we just couldn’t keep the ball. We gave them the ball. That was our halftime talk. Stop giving the ball away. We were just giving it right to them. Second half, we controlled, but we just couldn’t score.”
With 24 shots in regulation, including 15 in the second half, the Dragons needed a break, and they were gifted one with 7:20 left on the clock.
A mishandled throw-in by the Cougars, presented Anna Luker a chance to make a play on the ball and the junior dribble immediately down field and slid a cross pass to Blum.
“That was just a heads up play by Anna. She didn’t hear a whistle and she kept playing. Their team kind of stopped just enough for her to play that and Allie to finish it,” Clark said.
Prior to the goal, the Cougars’ defense accounted for two team saves while goalkeeper Jessica Merritt recorded nine against 11 shots on goal.
In overtime, Merritt added three more saves against five shots on goal for 12 total.
“Their defense is hard to beat. They’re good,” Blum said. “And, we did not play well, but we pulled it through and we managed to get the win.”
The defensive rotation of Kalyn Moss, Vaughn, Emma Colassaco, Callie Means and Emma Rennier backed up Merritt through more than 20 attacks by the Dragons.
“It kind of kept us at bay because I felt in the second half, we controlled the ball all over the field. We just couldn’t score, so that’s a credit to their defense and their keeper. She made some saves that were incredible,” Clark said.
Blum found a way, though.
In overtime, Dragons’ Vivian Miller fired a shot on goal in the 84th minute and Merritt tip saved it. But, the ball bounced away just far enough where Blum could retrieve it and score the eventual game winner.
“She is an amazing softball player, and we’re lucky she’s playing soccer. She just doesn’t ever give up,” Clark said. “We moved her out of the back and put her up top 20 minutes in and that was huge. She’s just fast, a hustler; she’s just an athlete.”
After the victory, she was ready to hit the lunch pail with free food awaiting on the bus.
“Credit to New Pal. They played hard. They played with energy. We had a really good game plan and the girls played amazing. The domino fell one way, and we thought it would go the other way,” Greenfield-Central head coach Brandon Steeno said. “But, we’ll grow from it.”
