By Ken Severson
For the Daily Journal
Entering Wednesday evening’s game, Whiteland’s girls soccer season could so far be summed up like this:
Win big or lose bigger.
It was the former against host Greenwood as Whiteland controlled all aspects of the game to take a 5-1 win, but to be honest, it wouldn’t have mattered to Whiteland coach Nick Magdalinos and the Warriors what the score was as long it was in their favor.
It was the first conference win for Magdalinos, who is in his third season as the Warriors’ mentor, and he couldn’t be happier for his team.
“What a team effort,” Magdalinos said. “This is a big step for us and these girls deserve it. They have worked their tail off for three years and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
This win definitely helped erase the memories of the first two games of the season, which were 8-0 losses at the feet of Roncalli and Plainfield.
In their in their last game, the Warriors toppled Warren Central 6-3, and no doubt used that game to build some momentum going into the match against the Woodmen.
Sophomore Emma Gill scored the first Whiteland goal off of a Greenwood turnover. Greenwood senior Sarah Turcotte pickpocketed a defender and then flicked the ball to Gill, who looped it over the head of Greenwood goalie Bre Wheatley in the 23rd minute of play.
From then on out, it was mostly Warriors, as they kept the Woodmen off-balance. Except for a few close moments in the first half, Greenwood really couldn’t put together a decent scoring chance.
In the second half, the Warriors (2-2, 1-1 Mid-State) struck twice within five minutes.
Senior Lydia Hernandez scored on a corner kick and then Alexa LaPorte had her team-leading fourth goal of the year with a nice shot past Wheatley in the 52nd minute.
Whiteland kept pressing the attack, with Gill finding an open Turcotte. At first it appeared Wheatley had stopped the shot, but the ball skittered away from her hands and hit the very far right corner of the net. Just like that, it was 4-0.
After that, it was pretty much keep-away and Magdalinos switched out players.
Greenwood (0-2, 0-2) did score when freshman Joelle Young snuck past the Warrior defense and kicked the ball past goalie McKinley Garrett to ruin the clean sheet.
Ella Proctor finished off the Whiteland scoring with a shot through a wild scramble. Turcotte finished up with a goal and four assists.
“Frustrating again,” Greenwood coach Joe Mushrush said. “What we have been doing in practice hasn’t translated to the games, and that’s our problem to solve. Whiteland had a good game plan. They were physical and tough. We’re searching for answers.”
Beech Grove is the next opponent for both teams, hosting Greenwood on Thursday and traveling to Whiteland on Monday.
