Mike Wolanin | For the Daily Journal
COLUMBUS
The team that generates the most scoring opportunities doesn’t always end up with the most goals.
Soccer can be cruel like that sometimes.
Class 3A No. 3 Center Grove certainly wasn’t lacking for chances during Wednesday’s regional semifinal match against Columbus North, but the Bull Dogs did more with the ones they had, overcoming an early ejection and picking up a 3-2 victory at the BCSC Soccer Complex.
“They finished, we didn’t. It kind of comes down to that,” Center Grove coach Jameson McLaughlin said. “That’s the way this game goes. I mean, the first 15 minutes, I don’t think they hardly touched the ball. We were everywhere but in the back of the net.”
Indeed, the Trojans (14-3-2) controlled play for the first 20-plus minutes — but it was the Bull Dogs who got on the scoreboard first when Aidan Whitley fed Nico Gotoh for a counterattack tally with 17:15 remaining in the half.
Momentum appeared to shift heavily in Center Grove’s favor less than two minutes later when North’s Misaki Takemoto was given a red card for giving the Trojans’ Cameron Kraiger a shot to the face — but instead Gotoh struck again, getting free on the left side and beating Center Grove keeper Carter Dorrell with a slow left-to-right roller as the first-half clock hit 13 minutes to go.
Up a man but suddenly down two goals, the visitors needed just 34 seconds to answer back. Niekos Whitney’s cross from the right wing connected with Kraiger, who knocked it in to cut the deficit in half.
Center Grove again got the better of the action as the second half got started, but it couldn’t cash in. Instead, the Bull Dogs (13-3-3) rebuilt their two-goal cushion, getting another shorthanded score with 19:41 left in the contest when Whitley fired a low shot past Dorrell from the right side.
“We just made a really bad play for their third,” McLaughlin said.
Down to their last few moments, the Trojans made a furious late charge. After a pair of Charlie Habig shots on goal were turned away by North netminder Noah Marsh, Whitney got Center Grove within one when he scored off an assist from older brother Nalen Whitney with 3:16 on the clock, but the Bull Dogs managed to hold on from there, getting the ball cleared out in the final minute and running the final seconds off the clock.
The 10-2 difference in corner kicks was fairly indicative of where the ball was for the bulk of the evening, but the Trojans just couldn’t push it over the goal line enough — a song that McLaughlin and his teams have had to listen to in more postseason losses than they’d care to remember.
“It seems to be just a voodoo jinx or something; I don’t know,” he said.
Center Grove had chances aplenty in the early going, with the two most promising opportunities coming from junior Matheus Gubert. His corner kick in the sixth minute nearly went in directly, going just wide of the left goalpost, and his free kick from just over 30 yards out caromed off the inside of that same left post.
Had one of those gone in, perhaps it’s a different match — but it wasn’t to be on this night.
“We just weren’t composed enough up top,” said Center Grove senior Ely Detty, who led all area players with 34 goals on the season. “We needed to capitalize. We had so many crosses, corners, set pieces; we had so much, but we just couldn’t do anything with that. At this level, we needed to capitalize on that stuff, and we just didn’t.”
Though the journey ended a couple of weeks sooner than they’d hoped, the Trojans enjoyed the ride together to get to this point.
“Every kid that comes through here means everything to me,” McLaughlin said. “That’s why I do it. I take time away from my family, away from my own kids, because I love doing it. Just being around these guys keeps me young. … I’m going to miss (Detty’s) goal scoring, I’m going to miss Chase (Stoneburner)’s sense of humor, Devin (McCormick)’s sense of humor. (The seniors) are five amazing kids. … They left a foundation for us, so I’m proud of them.”
“It was way better than I thought it would be,” Detty agreed. “I love all of these guys.”
