DANVILLE — Crawfordsville’s girls soccer season came to an end in the semifinals of the Class 2A sectional with a 9-0 loss to Danville.
The loss ends the Athenians season at 0-11, as they lose to their Sagamore conference foes for the second time in a week. The Warriors move to 11-5-1 and will play for the sectional title on their home pitch Saturday afternoon.
“It’s like a broken record,” Cville coach Laurie Vellner said. “The offensive half of our game just has not been there. It has to be our focus in the offseason. We have the talent, we just get down on ourselves when we fall behind early.”
The Warriors got a goal in the first nine minutes, and then added two more in the next 10, to get the early lead. They scored just before halftime to make it 4-0 at the break. Five more goals in the second half just kept growing the margin.
The Athenians, who struggled to score all season, managed only four shots on goal, all by sophomore Jayda Roach. Two came in each half. Roach had a clear path in the second half on one of her shots, only to have it turned away on a good save by Warriors goalie Sophie Willey.
“It comes down to not getting a clean pass from midfield to the forwards so we can get a good shot,” Vellner said. “When we fall behind by two or three goals, the capacity to get the offense moving gets deleted.”
Danville, who defeated Crawfordsville 4-0 last Saturday to finish the regular season, was led by the three goal, one assist night of Rory Teel. The junior pushed her season goal total to 14, second-best on the team.
The Warriors also kept shots flying at Athenians goal keeper Zoey Corbin. The freshman faced 19 shots on goal and lots of others that were just wide or high.
The loss ends the high school soccer careers for 10 Athenians, as Belle Laskowski, Amanda Callejas, Pitchaya Ruby, Kim Gonzalez, Karina Landa Hernandez, Giselle Rojas Jacome, Allyson Corsey, Kaylie Miller, Lauran Hale and Coralynn Rodriquez all played their last match in a Crawfordsville uniform.
“It will be hard to replace 10 players all at once,” Vellner said of the large group leaving, “but on the other hand, all our younger players are going to find themselves with a lot of playing time. “I just want to give Lauran Hale a special mention,” the coach said. “She has been a four-year starter, and never missed a minute. She was our sweeper and a rock on defense game in and game out. She will be a huge miss.”
With so many new faces on the horizon, the coach is optimistic about the future.
“Our middle school teams are scoring like crazy,” she said with a smile. “We have a chance for a new beginning next year. We can put this Covid-crazy, quarantine season behind us. We will not worry about the past — we are focused on the future.”
Even with a disappointing season, there was one moment of pride at the end.
As this reporter was talking with Coach Vellner, one of the three game officials came up to her and gave her a very nice compliment about her team.
“I’ve been officiating high school sports for 50 years,” this official said, “and I have never had a nicer group of athletes in a game. They never stopped hustling or working, and I wanted you to know that I noticed it and appreciated their efforts, especially since things weren’t going so well on the scoreboard.”
Sometimes there is more than wins and losses.
