LIZTON — The Sagamore Conference championship was just beyond the Crawfordsville girls’ soccer team’s grasp as they lost 9-0 to Tri-West in the title match.
Both teams came into the Monday match without a loss, in this, the final season of Sagamore play.
It was the Bruins, behind a five-goal effort of their leading scorer, Adison Melton, who jumped out to an early lead and took all the air out of the Athenians balloon.
In addition to the scoring, the Bruins, who move to 8-7 on the season and finish the conference campaign at 7-0, put the defensive dampers on every Crawfordsville scoring effort, as the Athenians fall to 8-6 overall and 5-1 in the league.
“We needed more and better possessions,” Athenians coach Alex Ehrlich said. “We needed to want the ball more, we needed to get those 50/50 balls. It seemed like every time we got on an attack, something happened.”
Those somethings were mostly due to the tenacious defense that the Bruins applied.
“Our defense did its job,” Tri-West coach Dustin Malicoat said, “but we knew that making (Caroline) Novak and (Riley) Gardner play a lot of defense keeps them from scoring. We forced them to defend a lot, and once we got settled in we were okay. I think we were thinking too much early on.”
It was senior night for the Bruins, and Malicoat, who won his second straight Sagamore title and the fourth in his six years at TW, said his squad was focused in, even maybe a little too much.
“We knew this was a championship game,” he said. “Crawfordsville was a lot easier target just a couple years ago, but they came in unbeaten tonight. They beat Danville and Lebanon, and that had our attention. Coach Ehrlich has transformed that program, and has them playing good soccer. Give Crawfordsville all the credit in the world for what they have accomplished.”
This match, and the last Sagamore championship, however, belonged to the Bruins, who captured the school’s 13th Sagamore crown.
Melton’s five goals give her 22 now for the season, tied with Southmont’s Jessica Hale for most in the league. Four other Bruins had one goal each.
Braylinn Hardister had one of those goals and added a pair of assists, including an excellent corner kick that was headed in by Emma Reed.
“Melton is strong, physical, fast and can put a ball on a dime,” Ehrlich said of the senior whose list of accomplishments was long and who is headed to Harvard for college.
The Athenians were limited to six shots on goal, and Novak, the team’s leading scorer, was held without one.
Meanwhile, the home squad zeroed in on Crawfordsville goal keeper Madison Martin, who faced 18 shots, and the sophomore had some tough saves.
“Madison did a great job,” Ehrlich said, “and (freshman) Alea Seward had a great individual save and was solid on defense. We got caught off guard in some moments, and that led to getting behind.”
The loss did nothing to take away the knowledge that the Athenians were there to play for the championship.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Ehrlich noted. “I’m so proud of this team for all the hard work and effort they have put in. I’m encouraged by that, and by what the future can hold.”
It should be noted that the Athenians had one win total in the two seasons prior to Ehrlich taking the head coaching spot, and is now in his fourth season. Crawfordville has 22 wins in the last thee seasons.
Both teams have one match left before postseason play starts next week, and they are in the same sectional.
The Bruins head to McCutcheon for a match today, and face Frankfort in their first tournament match next Wednesday.
The Athenians will play their final Sagamore match ever, playing host to Western Boone today. They take on host school West Lafayette in their 2A, Section 25 first-round match next Wednesday.
If both teams win their first match, they will play again, on Thursday, Oct. 10.
“First, we have our last conference match, and we want to finish alone in second place,” Ehrlich said, “and then we have a tough match with West Lafayette. We aren’t looking forward, but we have some definite ideas on what to do differently if we play Tri-West again next week.”
