Whiteland, Greenwood boys soccer eliminated

By Sam Findley
For the Daily Journal

After battling to a 2-2 stalemate through 94 minutes of action, the pressure was on for the Whiteland and Roncalli boys soccer teams.

Both teams were looking to set up a sectional semifinal date with Perry Meridian, a 9-0 winner over Greenwood earlier in the evening.

The Royals secured that semifinal spot, prevailing in a penalty-kick shootout to close out the first round of the Class 3A Whiteland Sectional.

Roncalli held possession early, but Whiteland defender Elliott Spangler prevented multiple scoring chances. The Warriors’ offense, meanwhile, looked lackluster, not producing any threatening shots.

The teams continued their scoreless battle, with Whiteland goalie Nolan Ferguson playing a big part in that. Ferguson had a pair of saves, including one where he exploded off the ground to the top right, plucking the ball out of the air and another in a one-on-one situation.

Ferguson finished the first half with six saves.

The defensive battle continued through the first 18 minutes of the second half, with both sides racking up stops. That all came to an end when Roncalli senior Brady Newett found the back of the net with 22:13 left in regulation.

Whiteland battled back, capitalizing when the ball bounced off of the Roncalli goalkeeper. Yahir Lugardo punched the ball home to tie it with 19:58 to go. As the clock ticked down, the Warriors’ Brandon Hall gave his team the lead with five minutes left in regulation.

A yellow card against Ferguson gave the Royals some hope, and Alejandro Gomez-Alejo converted on that hope when he scored with 1:21 remaining.

Roncalli had won three consecutive shootouts in winning its first Marion County tournament title last week, and it used that experience to its benefit against the Warriors after two scoreless overtimes.

The Royals struck first in the shootout, with Hugo Henderson finding the bottom corner of the net. JD Lompo answered with a ground ball for Whiteland.

Samuel Ganter then put Roncalli ahead. Whiteland’s David Mathis put a shot off the crossbar that hit the goal line but was not counted as good. Ferguson then came up with a save for the Warriors, but the Royals’ Brandon Rodriguez did the same against Hall to keep it at 2-1, and Christian Maldonado then gave Roncalli a two-goal cushion.

Thang Mang converted his shot to get the Warriors back within one, but Blaine Bowman did the same to clinch it for the Royals at 4-2.

In the early game, Greenwood (6-10-1) fought gamely but couldn’t keep pace with the 17th-ranked Falcons, who built a 3-0 lead by halftime and pulled away from there.

Still, first-year Woodmen head coach Dan Priscu is hopeful for the future after a season of improvement.

“Now it’s clean up details,” Priscu said. “There are still phases where we shut off or we use something as a pause and a goal gets in. Heads (go) down; it’s mental at that point. For us, the coaches, the sectional loss doesn’t mark our end. We’re back in the office getting stuff taken care of.”