Tomorrow, the No. 4 Center Grove soccer team will travel to Noblesville to take on No. 1 Noblesville, the defending state champions. This will be the first instance of these two teams playing each other after a 6-2 home loss for the Trojans, which was the program’s worst loss in over three years.
“Our defense completely fell apart last year,” senior Ely Detty said. “That happened in multiple games last year but we were up 2-1 in the second half, and then, we got scored on 5 times. I think our biggest difference is our defense, and Noblesville lost a lot of key players. They are still going to be very good, but they still lost a lot of players who impacted the game last year.”
Although the Trojans will go into the tie with momentum from their 4-0 win on senior night against Plainfield, their 2-1 loss against Guerin Catholic on Saturday could give them more motivation going into the game.
“I think we are going to rebound very well,” Detty said. “I personally think we needed to lose before we started going into games, because everybody needs to know and remember how losing feels. Obviously you don’t want to lose, [but] I think we’re going to go into that game with a lot of intensity and focus.”
Adding to the complexity of the game will be freshman Noblesville striker Ben Hewitt, who has scored eight goals, and will be a familiar face for the Center Grove defense, especially for his cousin, junior Evan Hewitt.
“I’ve always wanted to go up against my cousin,” Hewitt said. “It’s always been something I’ve wanted to do. Our dads are brothers and [they] played against each other in college. My dad went to Wabash and his dad went to DePauw, so it is a rivalry game. [With] Noblesville vs Center Grove, it’s not as big of a rivalry game, but it’s still a game that we want to go in and beat them.”
In addition to the rivalry, the Trojans will also have to deal with Noblesville’s style of play, which has earned the Millers their undefeated record.
“They’re a very direct team in terms of play style, which is why they have been finding success this season,” sophomore center back Roman Heller said. “They’re physically large, fast and they will [step] hard, but that’s nothing special to us. In fact, when a team is larger, we are able to complete quick, short passes right around them and work the ball down the field.”
Tomorrow will be the Millers’ senior night, which will add extra motivation for the Trojans, who were undefeated on opposing teams’ senior nights last year.
“I take [scheduling us on their senior night] as a little disrespectful. I texted some of their players and they said they’re putting their backup goalie at striker, and I take that as disrespect. They don’t think we’re good enough, and I think it’s time we show them how good we are,” Hewitt said.
Noblesville is the last top-20 team on the Trojans’ schedule, which makes this game their last chance to send a message to the rest of the schools, especially before the release of their sectional bracket.
“Noblesville is one of the best teams in the state and this game is probably our biggest game of the regular season. They won state last year, and we feel that this is a great chance for us to show everyone what we are made of,” Hewitt said.
