Whiteland’s Emma Gill tries to get past Franklin defender Morgan Harvey, left, during Wednesday’s match.
Sam Findley | For the Daily Journal
It must have felt like a brick wall was laid in front of each team’s goal for two-thirds of the second half of Wednesday’s Mid-State Conference girls soccer matchup between Franklin and Whiteland.
Whiteland’s Alexa LaPorte must really hate brick walls.
LaPorte smashed through the aforementioned wall with force not once but twice in the second half, giving her a hat trick on the night and the host Warriors a 3-2 victory.
“She just works and she’s skillful. And we can use her in multiple areas,” Whiteland coach Nick Magdalinos said. “I think that’s her biggest asset. Usually she’s a center midfielder for us, but tonight we moved her up top to kind of throw a little wrinkle at them, and she came through.”
Emma Gill led the initial Whiteland charge with two early attempts on goal, while Franklin (2-8, 1-3) had a balanced attack but came up empty-handed.
Franklin struck first with 13 minutes and some change on the first-half clock, when freshman Addy Sever’s ground ball put the Grizzly Cubs up 1-0. The visitors had a shot at going up 2-0 but came up just short of a goal on an Erica Beunings shot with 7:45 left in the half.
The Warriors (5-2, 3-1) made headway into the Grizzly Cubs lower third but were initially shut down. However, Whiteland stayed present in dangerous territory and was rewarded when LaPorte found the back of the net off of a free kick to tie things up at 1-1.
The deadlock did not hold for long. Franklin’s Izzy Traut scored from outside of the box when she found the corner with a little less than two minutes remaining in the first half.
LaPorte broke through to score the tying goal with 9:39 remaining in the second half, but the pressure was on her as she went to line up for a penalty kick in the closing minutes.
She came through. The sophomore’s third goal secured the win for Whiteland, its fifth straight.
“It’s so exciting,” LaPorte said. We have a streak. I feel really pumped for the rest of the season.”
Franklin will look to rebound Monday against Bloomington South, but coach Michael Pierson won’t be changing anything about the Grizzly Cubs game plan; he just wants to break through that wall.
“I don’t think we’re going to change anything,” Pierson said. “We’re just going to try to fix putting it in the back of the net. If we put in the back of the net it’s a different game, but the way we move the ball, the way we defend it when we position ourselves.
“It was a great game by us. We just couldn’t finish.”
