Greenwood goalkeeper Braden Reynolds, right, dives to make a save as Greenfield-Central’s Ryan Dietz (20) waits for a possible rebound during Monday’s sectional match.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
INDIANAPOLIS
Monday night, under the lights at Mary Bryan Elementary’s Holder Field, a spot in the Class 3A sectional semifinals was on the line.
In the first game of the Perry Meridian Sectional, Greenfield-Central and Greenwood squared off with the winner advancing to face New Palestine on Wednesday. Meeting the Dragons will be the Woodmen, who defeated the Cougars by a score of 2-1.
“The boys’ mentality has been awesome, especially in the last part of the season,” Greenwood head coach Dan Priscu said. “Just really proud of them sticking it out tonight. Greenfield definitely had the intensity, so we needed to match that the whole way and we did. This group is the first group that doesn’t know anything from the previous program, so I’m proud of them because we just got our first sectional win in a long time.”
A quick response to Greenfield-Central’s lone goal propelled the Woodmen (6-7-4) to the win.
With 32:06 to go in the second half, Greenfield-Central sophomore Grayson Young put home a rebound off a free kick that hit the crossbar to even things at 1-1.
Just under four minutes later, the Woodmen scored the deciding goal. On a corner kick from Landon Holt, Greenwood’s Emmanuel Jackson beat G-C goalkeeper Nathan Robbins with a header.
“That response was massive,” Priscu said. “It shows that we can respond and that nothing fazes us, which is the most important thing at this point of the season. It was awesome to show that fight.”
With the Woodmen up 2-1, the final 28 minutes of play were controlled by the Cougars, who had six shots, five corners and nine free kicks in the second half.
With 20 minutes to go, a G-C header went over the crossbar. A few minutes later they sent a shot wide left, and with just under 14 minutes remaining, Greenwood goalkeeper Braden Reynolds denied a Cougar free kick with a save while falling to the ground.
The final 13 minutes were filled with more offensive pressure from the Cougars, but each time they came up empty. The best chance for the Cougars to tie things up came in the closing seconds when they fired off back-to-back corners, but Greenwood’s defense cleared the first out of play, and the second attempt went long as the clock ran out.
The first half was controlled by the Woodmen, who opened up the scoring a little after the halfway mark of the half.
With 18:40 to go in the opening half, a Greenfield-Central hand ball inside the box gave Greenwood a penalty kick, and senior Za Sang buried the shot into the bottom left corner of the net, beating Robbins, who guessed in the opposite direction.
While the go-ahead goal didn’t come until over 20 minutes into the game, the Woodmen had their chances early on. At the seven-minute mark, a diving save by Robbins off a Greenwood corner kick denied a goal and off the rebound, a second Woodmen shot was blocked and cleared by the Cougars defense. Ten minutes later, a Greenwood header off a free kick went just over the crossbar.
The Cougars, who had limited first-half scoring chances, had their best opportunity in the closing seconds. Following a Robbins save on the other end, the team took off running with 20 seconds to go. Ryan Dietz found himself one on one with Reynolds, but his shot as time expired went wide right.
