By E. Shawn Aylsworth
Managing Editor
LAWRENCE – With a handful of minutes left in the Sept. 24 girls soccer showdown between top-ranked Carmel and defending state champion No. 9 Indianapolis Cathedral, sophomore forward Kelsie Strout re-entered the game for the visiting Greyhounds.
The move by Carmel coach Frank Dixon proved prophetic just moments later when Strout – the tallest player on the field – took a gorgeous set-up pass to the right front of the goal from junior Bea Gassman and poked it in to the left of Fighting Irish senior goalie Erica Maginn with just 1:21 left to play, saving the day for Carmel in a 2-1 victory.
Strout’s second goal – she had tallied on a breakaway with just over 23 minutes remaining to knot the score at 1-1 – completely reversed the momentum of the game’s first 55 minutes. This clash of titans at Lawrence Park was dominated by Cathedral for the first two-thirds of the game, with the Irish shockingly holding Carmel shotless in the first half and forcing play into the Carmel zone time and again.
That relentless pressure finally produced results when senior fullback and captain Anna Parsons knocked in a header off a left corner kick from junior midfielder Anna Ventimiglia at the 46th minute, putting Cathedral on top 1-0.
Yet despite an 18-5 shot advantage for the Irish, they couldn’t put Carmel away. From the left sideline, Greyhound sophomore Allie Auscherman hit a streaking Strout in the center of the field about 11 minutes later, and Strout tied the game when she beat Maginn in the left corner.
That shot jolted some life into the ’Hounds, who got a fantastic diving save swatted to her right by freshman goalie Sam Tiongson on the game’s lone penalty kick about eight minutes later. It also set the stage for Strout’s game-winning kick on the lovely long pass from Gassman.
Carmel improves to 10-1-1 with the victory, while Cathedral – fresh off an impressive 1-1 tie four days earlier at then-No. 3 Zionsville – falls to 7-4-2.
COME BACK FRIDAY FOR VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS AS WELL AS INTERVIEWS WITH CARMEL COACH FRANK DIXON AND CATHEDRAL COACH MARC BEHRINGER!!
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