GREENFIELD — Since the Indiana High School Athletic Association went to three classifications for girls soccer in 2017, Mt. Vernon and East Central have been the dominant programs in Sectional 12.
The only state-ranked teams in the tournament, held this year at Greenfield-Central High School’s Hancock Health Stadium, East Central, for the third time, beat the Marauders in the championship match.
After a deadlocked evenly-played first half, the 18th-ranked Trojans took control and found the back of the net twice in the final 40 minutes, eliminating the 16th-rated Marauders from the 2021 postseason, 2-0.
Mt. Vernon, the defending sectional champion, finished its season with an 11-4-1 mark. East Central is 15-2-1 and will play at Roncalli Wednesday in a regional semifinal contest.
“We had some really good opportunities early, in the first half,” Mt. Vernon head coach Aaron Britt said. “Still, we never got into what we do. That’s to (East Central’s) credit. They did a great job.”
In the 43rd minute, East Central junior Julia Tiemann got the game’s first goal.
The second came in the 68th minute. Off a Tiemann corner kick, freshman Ellie Hill scored on a header.
“Not our best (performance),” Britt added. “The effort was there. We just couldn’t put it together tonight.”
East Central had a number of other second-half tries that were either wide, high, hit the post or stopped by Mt. Vernon freshman goalkeeper Reagan Britt, playing for her injured older sister, senior Riley Britt. They are the daughters of the head coach. Reagan Britt recorded six saves.
“Last year, we were ranked ahead of them and they came to East Central and beat us,” East Central head coach Bill Volker said. “This year, they were ranked ahead of us. It’s almost like a taboo. Whoever is the higher ranked team it doesn’t seem to work out very well for.
“(Mt. Vernon) is a great team. Their back line, (Madison) Swingle, (Mattie) Isger, (Shay) Shipley, they just have weapons all over the place. They have speed. We have speed. It’s usually a really good matchup. (Mt. Vernon) always does a great job. (This sectional) is a dogfight every year.”
For both teams, scoring opportunities were minimal in the first half.
Mt. Vernon’s best chance came early.
In the third minute, after an East Central foul, Swingle had a free kick from 20 yards out. It was just off target as the ball caromed off the cross bar.
Just moments later, East Central’s Hill missed wide left on the best early attack from the Trojans.
10 minutes in, Tiemann moved her attack forward and got teammate Makenzie Vignale a good shot opportunity, but a Mt. Vernon back blocked the try. EC got a rebound chance, but the kick went over the goal.
The Marauders have been in the sectional championship match in each of the five Class 3A seasons. They were runner-up to the Trojans in 2017 and 2019, too. Mt. Vernon beat New Palestine in last year’s final, advancing to the championship match with a 3-0 semifinal win over East Central.
Along with winning last year’s sectional championship match, Mt. Vernon got to the regional title contest before being eliminated, 3-2, by eventual state runner-up Guerin Catholic.
In 2018, Franklin Central, which is no longer in Sectional, 12, defeated Mt. Vernon.
After finishing runner-up to Yorktown in the Hoosier Heritage Conference in 2020, Mt. Vernon regained the league crown this season. The Marauders won consecutive conference championships from 2016-19. Mt. Vernon was unbeaten, 7-0, in HHC matches.
“(We were) conference champs,” coach Britt said proudly of his team. “Losing your multiple-year starting goalie (Riley Britt), one of the best around here and trying to recover from that and still playing at a high level and competitive, to me, that’s important.
“For a lot of teams, that would have been it. Our girls did a good job of rallying around that and finding a way to get it done. Front to back (this season) we had a lot of adversity. They were able to find a way the majority of the time, tonight just wasn’t our night.”
The Marauders had nine seniors on this year’s team, Brianna Hale, Sophia DeWael, Lillian Wilson, Hannah Dishman, Morgan Kille, Ana Pardo, Britt Shipley and Swingle.
Three seniors have committed to NCAA Division I program, Swingle (Cincinnati), Shipley (Northern Kentucky) and Wilson (Bellarmine).
Shipley led the team this season with 12 goals, but the Marauders were a well-balanced attack. Fourteen different girls scored goals. Swingle and sophomore Isger each had nine. Wilson and frosh Kylie Brandes both scored seven.
Senior Britt finished with a .711 goals-against average. Seven of Mt. Vernon’s 11 wins were shutouts.
“That’s part of it, the disappointment,” coach Britt added on his talk with his club after Saturday’s loss. “We’ve done everything this year together. We’ve found ways to get through our conference. We’ve found ways to get through injuries and get good wins. You’ve got to lose together, too. We’ll support each other to get through. That’s part of it.”
