Senior night was a special night for the Whiteland girls soccer team. Junior Emma Gill made sure of it.
Gill scored three goals on Wednesday night to lead the Warriors to a 4-1 win against visiting Greenwood, in a game that featured eight seniors in the Whiteland starting lineup.
“This was my first group, that I came in with,” Whiteland coach Nick Magdalinos said of the seniors. “It’s a little special tonight. They are the building block of what we started here. They changed the culture. They brought the work ethic. They deserve nights like tonight.”
Seniors Kate Dimock and McKinley Garrett shared the duties in net. Senior midfielder Ella Proctor scored the Warriors’ fourth and final goal of the game nearly halfway through the second half.
But it was Gill — with the assistance of some slick passing from her teammates — that propelled the hosts to a big win.
Gill’s first goal came at the 19-minute mark, when Whiteland freshman midfielder Rhianna Hardy found her teammate near the top of the box. The junior calmly closed in and slotted the ball past Woodmen keeper Breonna Wheatley.
The lead doubled with less than seven minutes to go in the half, when Gill took a pass near midfield, outran the defense and again found the back of the net.
Her third goal — and seventh of the season — came just two minutes into the second half, when she scored off a perfectly placed corner kick from sophomore midfielder Alexa LaPorte, sending the seniors well on their way to their third straight win.
“We want to keep that winning streak and let our seniors go out with a bang,” Gill said.
Greenwood (1-1-1, 1-1 Mid-State) got on the board with 14 minutes left, when senior Emily Metzger scored off a penalty kick. Garrett made the initial save, pushing the ball up and off the crossbar, but Metzger regained control and put the rebound in the back of the net.
It was Whiteland’s first conference win of the season and its third straight against Greenwood, including a regular-season game in 2021 and a sectional win in 2020.
“We want to be competitive in Mid-State,” Magdalinos said of his team’s first conference win. “We’re just going to plug away and do the best we can and see what happens.”
The Woodmen host Beech Grove today, the same team that the Warriors (3-2, 1-1) travel to play on Monday.
