Whiteland girls soccer advances; Franklin eliminated

Addison Emberton was decked out in a highlighter neon green jersey on Wednesday night, but even if she’d been wearing a dull gray, Whiteland’s junior goalkeeper would have shone just as brightly.

Playing soccer for the first time in her life this fall, Emberton looked every bit the seasoned veteran that she isn’t, making several critical saves to help host Whiteland hold on for a 1-0 triumph over Columbus North in a Class 3A sectional opener at Break-O-Day Elementary school.

The Warriors (11-5-1) will play an 8 p.m. semifinal match tonight against Roncalli, which opened the evening with a 3-1 victory over Franklin.

“My adrenaline was going crazy, but I had fun,” said Emberton, who posted her ninth shutout of the season. “It was nerve-wracking at some points of the game.”

Whiteland drew first blood with a shocking goal out of the corner just over 14 minutes into the match. Senior Emma Gill served up a ball from deep in the right corner that not only made its way in front of the goal mouth untouched, but managed to roll all the way across the goal line before a Columbus North defender could clear it out.

North had a golden opportunity to even it up in the 28th minute of play, getting a point-blank shot from about 10 yards out. Emberton, though, came out and met the shot head-on, making the stop to keep the Bull Dogs off the board.

“I’m not scared to go out and get the ball,” she said.

Gill had another chance to double the lead less than three minutes into the second half, but her shot from about five yards out on the left side was stopped by North netminder Paige Terry.

Freshman Avery Baker put a hard shot on goal from the top of the box with 21 minutes to go in regulation, but Emberton managed to jump high enough to tap the ball over the crossbar. The Bull Dogs (6-7-3) got a touch on the ensuing corner kick but it rolled wide left of the net.

Another North corner in the 66th minute was snatched out of the air by Emberton, who charged out two minutes later to beat the Bull Dogs’ Page Mora to a loose ball 15 yards out.

Whiteland had another shot to go up by two down the stretch, but Hailey Hillhouse’s hard shot from 20 yards out on the right sailed a bit high. Another good shot about 80 seconds later, this one a Madison Fleury attempt from out by the left sideline, was stopped by Terry.

The Bull Dogs applied some late pressure but were unable to get a clean look at the goal in the final five minutes.

“It’s survive and advance,” Warriors coach Nick Magdalinos said. “All year we’ve been playing close, we’ve been playing good defense, and we’re just going to keep grinding and see where it gets us.”

Roncalli (9-5-3) got on the board just over six minutes in the match when Erin Reilly put a header into the left side of the net. Franklin’s defense held firm for the rest of the half and well into the second, keeping it a one-goal game until Fi Kelley scored from close range in the 54th minute to give the Royals a 2-0 cushion.

The Grizzly Cubs (3-11-2) kept battling, and their persistence paid off in the 66th minute when Lily Harvey corraled a corner kick and redirected it into the net. Before they could get a tying goal, though, Roncalli’s Laylah Waugh answered back, punching in an insurance tally from point-blank range with 10:04 remaining in the match.

Though the end result wasn’t the desired one, first-year Franklin coach Garrett Belden has enjoyed watching his squad progress over the past two months.

“Even though the record doesn’t necessarily show it, there’s a lot of changes that have happened this year, a lot of positive forward motions, movements that I can’t imagine they would have done. The strides we’ve taken as a team, both technical and tactical, wanting to be at practice, wanting to be at the games, excited to come to play soccer — that’s all positive stuff that we take forward into the next season, and just keep on building. Just one building block at a time.”