Greenwood girls soccer blanks Whiteland

<p>For the Daily Journal</p><p>Stellar goalkeeping by Kiley Hankenhoff was the key to Greenwood’s first girls soccer win of the year on Wednesday.</p><p>Hankenhoff stopped several close shots, including one at point-blank range, and goals from teammates Tori Graber and Lilli Vaziri were more than enough for the visitors to whitewash Whiteland, 2-0.</p><p>Making the win sweeter for Greenwood (1-1) was the fact it was also their first Mid-State victory and erased the disappointment of a 4-0 loss to Franklin last week.</p><p>“We’re starting to get the rust off,” Woodmen coach Joe Mushrush said. “It was hot and pretty humid out there. They played with a lot of effort. We’re really happy about that.”</p><p>It was so hot, the referees decided to add a water break in each half for the safety of the players. Despite that, neither team appeared to wilt and both Greenwood and Whiteland kept a quick pace up throughout the game.</p><p>Greenwood had the best first chance of the game on a free kick, but good defense on the Warriors’ part kept the Woodmen out of the net.</p><p>But in the 19th minute of the first half, Graber kicked it past Whiteland goalie McKinley Garrett for the 1-0 lead. Greenwood sophomore Abbie Davis got the assist.</p><p>In the second half, Whiteland missed a golden opportunity when Hankenhoff stopped a shot, but couldn’t grab the ball and it rebounded in front of her and directly in front of Whiteland sophomore Haley Achs.</p><p>Achs took a shot, but Hankenhoff stood her ground and caught the shot, preventing the Warriors from tying the game.</p><p>Minutes later, freshman Vazari took a pass from Alonna Magness to give Greenwood an insurance goal and a 2-0 lead.</p><p>Hankenhoff, a senior, is still fairly new to the goalie position, but luckily for Greenwood, she’s a quick learner — which she showed on that critical close-range save.</p><p>“It was really stressful,” said Hankenhoff. “It came off the rebound, she kicked it and I thought it was going to go in, but I stopped it.”</p><p>Hankenhoff also had the benefit of some good defense from her teammates and several other inaccurate shots.</p><p>Whiteland hit nearly everything but the back of the net, as shots careened off the crossbar, hit the goal posts and sailed over the net.</p><p>Offsides also hurt the Warriors, as they were whistled twice on excellent scoring chances.</p><p>Mushrush marveled at Hankenhoff’s performance.</p><p>“Playing goalie was a brand new experience for her,” he said, “but she’s trained hard and made a lot of improvements and Kiley’s really reliable.”</p><p>Overall the Woodmen are understandably not yet at the level Mushrush would like, but after only two games, they are on the right track.</p><p>“There are still some things we need to work and improve on,” the coach said. “I think it was okay, though. We should have finished more, and we were fortunate to get the win because Whiteland had some real good chances.”</p><p>Greenwood hosts Beech Grove this afternoon. Whiteland (0-3-1, 0-2) and also plays the Hornets next on Monday.</p>