Center Grove’s Brooklyn Brown, second from left, is greeted by teammates after scoring a goal in Wednesday’s regional semifinal at Terre Haute South.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
TERRE HAUTE
As the saying goes, there are levels to this stuff.
Center Grove visited Terre Haute South for a Class 3A girls soccer regional semifinal on Wednesday. And though the teams’ win-loss records were virtually identical, 80 minutes of play told a different story.
The 14th-ranked Trojans won 3-0 to advance to Saturday’s regional final at Seymour, where they’ll face No. 7 Castle.
Center Grove (14-4-3) battled the Knights (16-2-2) during the regular season, losing 1-0.
Coach Myron Vaughn’s squad gets a second opportunity by way of Wednesday’s dominant performance, which included the Trojans attempting 22 shots compared to seven for the Braves.
Asked if strength of schedule during the regular season plays a significant factor once the postseason arrives, Vaughn immediately waved off the idea.
“I think at this time of year, this is about how much you want to keep playing,” Vaughn said. “It’s about your training over the course of the season. It’s about the philosophy, the culture and the way that you want to play.”
Center Grove’s first goal occurred 11 minutes, 35 seconds into the match when senior midfielder Brooklyn Brown scored from straight away, her right-footed delivery sailing over the right hand of a leaping Noah Killinger, the Terre Haute South goalkeeper.
“I saw a space, I had a right technique and I just stepped up and took it,” said Brown of her sixth goal of the season and first since the team’s 1-0 win over Mt. Vernon on Sept. 18.
The Trojans and Braves had met during the regular season at the Panther Classic in Evansville, with the Trojans winning 4-0 on the strength of two goals from junior Jessie Jasek. Senior Lauren Hopper and sophomore Mia Marlin had one goal apiece, with Marlin also credited with an assist.
That, however, was the final day of August — an eternity ago in soccer circles, what with the possibility of lineup and strategy changes as teams get deeper into the season.
“They were a completely different team than when we played them earlier in the season,” Brown said. “They sat back a lot more. They came out ready to play, which is understandable. Win or go home.”
Center Grove upped its lead to 2-0 when Marlin scored off an assist from sophomore forward Maddie Guilfoy 29:18 into the first half of play. The lone second-half goal was scored by sophomore Sadie McLaughlin at 15:26.
Vaughn’s team has now outscored opponents this season by a total of 47-15. In Center Grove’s four postseason matches, the margin is 14-1.
“Today was about the quality of these girls, the performance they put on the field and how much this means to them,” Vaughn said. “I think all three phases of the game, we were on top of the game.
“What we did today wasn’t so much aggression as much as it was confidence. We went out with the understanding that we felt like we were the best team on the field. But it didn’t matter until we proved it, and we’ll try to do the same thing on Saturday.”
Brown, who is one of eight seniors on the Trojans’ roster, feels her team can continue to stretch these season even further.
“We’ve just got to come in and be aggressive,” Brown said. “We can beat them if we play our best.”
