PENDLETON — All season, the Pendleton Heights girls soccer team showed the high caliber of its character and talent. During Saturday’s sectional final, the Arabians’ fortitude was on full display.
The possibility of toppling the ninth-ranked team in the state, Fishers, became very real for the non-ranked Arabians, but in the end, 94 minutes of play was decided by penalty kicks. In two rounds of kicks, the Tigers emerged champions 8-7 in a game that played to a 1-1 tie in regulation time.
“They gave it all they had,” coach Mark Davy said. “They put themselves in a great situation. I can’t be more proud of them.”
While the Tigers were the favorite, the Arabians battled aggressively on every inch of the field.
In the first half, both Fishers and Pendleton Heights exchanged control of the field. At the 15-minute mark, an Arabians shot bounced off the rail, and Tigers fans let out a loud sigh of relief.
Twice in the first half, Riley Schrink had to leave the field after collisions with Fishers players.
At the end of the first half, the teams had driven each other to a 0-0 score.
Just when the second half of play was beginning to be a repeat of the first, Pendleton Heights’ Taylor Fort set up Helena Talbot for a run down the field and a kick through the right side of the goal.
Davy said Fort told him before the game she had planned to assist Talbot for a score.
Arabians goalkeeper Megan Mills spent the game deflecting shot after shot from the Tigers, but with 5:30 remaining in the game, Mills stopped a shot, but the ball slipped through, making it a 1-1 game. Mills again made another crucial stop at the 2-minute mark, setting the stage for overtime action.
Mills had 15 saves for the game.
“It’s hard to say how much she means to us. Words can’t do justice,” Davy said.
Two seven-minute overtimes later, the score still sat at 1-1.
The tie trend continued after the first five shooters for both teams took the field and waited for their turns.
The Arabians lost their first kick, but Claire Fendel, Fort, Shrink and Mills all connected for their shots. The Tigers missed only their fourth shot, resulting in a 4-4 result in the shootout round.
In Round 2, five more shooters took the field, with the Arabians hitting their first three head-to-head with Fishers. One Arabian miss ended the game as the fourth kick for the Tigers went through the goal for the win.
“We talked about this in January,” Davy said. “We accomplished our goal of a conference championship. Now we’ve got to shoot for higher goals, and the sectional championship was that goal.”
Davy told his team how much they mean to him.
“They gave this program, this team everything they had and more. We couldn’t ask for more.”
Prior to Saturday’s matchup, Davy gathered the team and told his players to come out of the game without any regrets.
“I’m proud of each and every one of them. They are champions in my heart,” Davy said.
The Arabians graduate six seniors this year.
