NEW PALESTINE — When two teams are having near identical seasons, it was no surprise Wednesday’s Hoosier Heritage Conference girls soccer match could not be decided in regulation.
Two overtimes couldn’t decide it either.
Finally, after a round of penalty kicks, Mt. Vernon extended its Hoosier Heritage Conference winning streak in a 2-1 victory at rival New Palestine.
For the Marauders, it was their 13th straight HHC victory. Their last conference loss was Sept. 12, 2020 against Yorktown. They have won 43 of their last 45 league contests.
Mt. Vernon (6-2, 4-0) takes sole possession of the top spot in the HHC. They not only broke the tie in the game, they broke the tie in the standings. New Palestine dropped to 6-2-1 overall and 3-1 in the HHC.
Addison Wong got the deciding PK. The Marauders hit four of their five tries. New Pal went 3 of 5.
“It was stressful, but you have to suck it up and do it for your team and not yourself,” Wong said on stepping up for the final kick of the match.
“It was really competitive, but we all knew we could do it,” she added. “We kept our strength and our heads. It was all mental. We were pretty even teams going at it head-to-head, but we knew we were better and could persevere.”
Kylie Brandes, Mattie Isger and Ellie Gawrys all proceeded Wong with successful PKs. New Pal got successful tries from Tylar Whitaker, Mia Knoop and Gabrielle Brown.
New Pal’s Vivian Miller hit the post on the first try of PKs. Mt. Vernon’s Hannah Monroe had an attempt go high.
Mt. Vernon goalkeeper Khloe Patterson had the lone save, negating an attempt by Bethany Aldridge. It was the Dragons third attempt.
“It’s nerve-racking,” Patterson, a senior first-time goalkeeper said of defending PKs. “When we practice PKs, coach (Aaron Britt) told me to watch their plant foot and try to predict where it’s going, then go all out to one side.
“This means a lot (to win this match). I don’t know any other way to describe it.”
After a scoreless first half, New Palestine got on the board with a Neveah Gebhart goal with 23:04 remaining in the second half.
The Dragons stopped a number of Mt. Vernon opportunities in the waning minutes, but a foul with 5:20 remaining set up Brandes for a long free kick. She found the right corner of the New Pal goal and it was out of the reach of Dragons goalkeeper Grace Hasenkamp. It tied the match 1-1.
“It’s probably the best goal I’ve seen in a long time,” Britt said of the goal that forced overtime. “She was probably 25-30 yards on the corner of the 18 and hit the upper corner on the backside.”
In the first half, quality opportunities were limited on both sides. The best chance of the first 40 minutes came off the right foot of Whitaker. After some fancy footwork, Whitaker, at the 28:50 mark, saw a small opening, but Patterson dove to her right to make the save and leave the match locked at 0-0.
Mt. Vernon had the best overtime opportunities. Brandes had free kick tries in both extra sessions. Both were saved by Hasenkamp. The second stop, with just under four minutes in the second session, was one of the most impressive of the night.
The regulation goals from Gebhart and Brandes were the fifth of the season for each.
“They are a very good team. When they were down they pressed hard, but we battled right back,” New Palestine coach Erin Clark said. “Minus that foul, outside the box with five minutes left, we win that game. We had that game. We had it.”
Tuesday’s match was tight from start to finish, but winning convincingly has been a trait for both Mt. Vernon and New Palestine this season.
Along with impressive overall and conference records, both the Marauders and Dragons have been decisive winners in most of their matches. Coming in, the Marauders had outscored opponents 34-7, including a 19-1 advantage in HHC matches.
New Palestine has had similar success. The Dragons came in winners of four straight and unbeaten in the last five. They had outscored the opposition 44-6 and 24-1 in the HHC.
Mt. Vernon, ranked No. 18 in the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association Class 3A poll, is back in action Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. matchup against Yorktown (5-3, 1-2), in Fortville.
New Palestine is scheduled to play host to Greenfield-Central (2-3, 1-2) on Wednesday, Sept. 14.
