It might be extreme to say both teams were desperate for a win, but the Greenwood and Whiteland girls’ soccer teams entered Wednesday’s Mid-State Conference match a with a little more urgency than normal.
The Woodmen’s sophomore-laden starting lineup held off the host Warriors’ injury-riddled squad, moving to 1-1 on the season with a 2-1 victory at Break-O-Day Elementary School. The loss dropped Whiteland to 0-3.
“We have a lot of players who haven’t even played soccer before who are starters, and learning everything, and I think it’s a good feeling for them to have a win,” said Greenwood senior forward Veda Craig, who scored the goal that provided the Woodmen with their victory margin. “It’s good for them to see they can do this, and also shows us what we need to work on.”
Craig’s goal, which came unassisted at the 22:49 mark of the first half from about 20 yards out and put the Woodmen up 2-0, came at a time when Greenwood spent the majority of the match at Whiteland’s end of the field.
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The Woodmen, who started eight sophomores and a freshman, weren’t able to build on that lead, and Whiteland cut the edge in half when freshman Sarah Turcotte’s shot flew just above the outstretched arms of Greenwood goalkeeper Kiley Hankenhoff with 28:34 remaining in the match.
Whiteland never seriously threatened after that, though. Hankenhoff only needed to make six saves in the match.
The Warriors are dealing with a bevy of injuries that have played a major role in their 0-3 start. Senior midfielder Emily Williams, who was the MVP on last year’s conference championship team, is out with an ankle injury, and Whiteland coach Abby Gross said she will probably miss another week. Seniors Thaya Manitkul (concussion) and defender Courtney Taylor (ankle) are also out, but should return at roughly the same time as Williams.
Whiteland is also missing Savannah Martin and Libby Baker, both projected varsity players, with season-ending injuries.
“The girls are still figuring out how to play certain positions and working together,” Whiteland coach Abby Gross said. “They were tired of getting pushed around out there (in the second half). We just couldn’t compensate for our lethargic start in the first half. Once we got our goal, we got lots of momentum and started creating more opportunities for ourselves.”
Greenwood’s first goal came off a corner kick with 34:45 remaining in the first half, when Olivia Brawley’s corner kick found Brooklyn Stubblefield, who twisted in midair in front of the goal to deflect the ball off her side and into the net.
“We’re really unproven and we’re really young, and we really needed this as a boost,” Greenwood coach Joe Mushrush said. “We’ve seen a lot of potential, so it’s nice to get a win against Whiteland, who was so good last year. We’ve only got two seniors on the team, so it’s really positive to see us play aggressively even when we don’t have a lot of experience.”
The Woodmen had several other close scoring opportunities, but Whiteland goalkeeper Leesha Thacker made diving saves to keep the match close.
“She played an incredible game; I was just wishing we could put a few away,” Gross said.
Greenwood plays again today at Beech Grove. Whiteland plays Saturday at Perry Meridian.
