Goshen Born Again, Headed To State
WARSAW – Goshen was given new life Saturday night, feeling reborn. With the state finals on the line, Tyler Born stepped to the line and made the save of his life.
The Goshen boys soccer goalkeeper snuffed a Homestead penalty kick in the fifth round of the shootout in the Warsaw Boys Soccer Semi-state title game, giving Goshen a 4-3 kick advantage and a ticket to the state finals next weekend. The game had played to a nil-nil result in regulation and overtime, forcing penalty kicks.
Goshen converted its first four kicks, but missed the fifth. Homestead missed one of its first four, setting up the Born drama on the final try.
Goshen reached the final by knocking off the state’s top-ranked team in Class 2-A, Chesterton, with a 2-0 result in the morning semi-state semi-final. Isaac Huerta and Jesus Dominguez Olvera both scored on assists from Sebastian Flores and Alex Martinez, both goals coming in the second half.
Chesterton entered the game 20-0, while Goshen’s two wins moves the club to 19-2-1 overall and a date with Indianapolis Brebeuf in next Saturday’s IHSAA Boys Soccer State Finals. Goshen has never made the championship game, only appearing in the Final Four once in 2007 before bowing out to eventual champion Evansville Memorial.
Goshen will face Brebeuf at approximately 3:30 p.m. Saturday at IUPUI.
Goshen’s girls soccer team were also in action in the semi-state, but could not come up with a goal in a 1-0 loss to Fort Wayne Carroll at the South Bend St. Joseph’s Semi-state. Matea Knipel netted Carroll’s only goal of the game in the 13th minute, thus ending Goshen’s greatest season in school history. The Lady Redskins finished 18-2-1 and made the semi-state for the first time, after winning the regional for the first time last weekend at home.
Fishers will meet Carmel in the 2-A final after Fishers ripped Lake Central, 5-0, in the other semi-final at St. Joe and then knocked out Carroll, 1-0, in the final Saturday night.
At Argos, the Westview girls bowed out of the Class 1-A tournament after a 2-1 loss to West Lafayette. At LaVille, the Argos boys had its season end in the Class 1-A semi-state finals in a 3-2 defeat to Guerin Catholic. Argos beat Hebron, 4-2, to reach the evening contest.