By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
KOKOMO – Greg Davidson never doubted his team for a second on Saturday afternoon.
When top-ranked Class 3A Hamilton Southeastern trailed No. 2 Homestead, 1-0, after the 11th minute of the Kokomo Regional championship, Davidson trusted.
Through the final 24 minutes, 40 seconds after junior Kherington Patton knotted up the score 1-1 in the 54th minute, the Royals’ veteran coach knew a win was going to unfold.
It was a matter of patience, pressure and opportunity.
“I just believe in this team,” Davidson said. “I’ve been coaching for a few years, and this is the best team I’ve ever had.”
Senior Sloane May proved her coach right with 20 seconds left in regulation at Walter Cross Field.
On Thursday, May buried both of HSE’s goals during its 2-0 regional semifinal win over McCutcheon, and two days later she provided her third in two games (15th overall) with the threat of overtime looming against Homestead (18-1).
Senior Sloane May (left) scored the winning goal with 11 seconds left in the game. She is pictured with her sister, sophomore Sydney May. (Richard Torres)
Stealing possession near the box, the Michigan commit broke down one defender, froze another and fired the game-winning goal as the clock wound down to 11 seconds, sealing a 2-1 victory and the Royals’ first regional championship since 2012.
“Getting the ball off fast is something I’ve been working on. Just getting that into the back of the goal just felt great,” May said.
“I don’t even know. I’ve never felt this feeling before just because it was such a close game, and there were 11 seconds left. I’m just excited to advance and see what we can do in semistate.”
The Royals are officially navigating uncharted territory after ending their 13-year sectional title drought.
With sectional wins over both county and Hoosier Crossroads Conference rivals Noblesville and Fishers, who combined for six state titles during HSE’s dry spell, the Royals (20-0-1) are now one step closer to their goal after clinching their sixth regional all time.
“I think every single year I’ve been here, I have had the goal of winning state, and sometimes, our focus has been more towards winning sectional. But this year, we just want our one dream, our one goal of winning state,” May said. “And it’s totally attainable.”
A semistate qualifier for the first time since making back-to-back appearances in 2011 and 2012, HSE was put to the test by 12-time regional champion Homestead.
The speedy Spartans challenged HSE with a triple-scoring threat in juniors Channing Xayarath (23 goals), Audrey Johnson (29 goals) and Braylee Morris (23 goals), but HSE rallied back despite adversity.
A go-ahead goal by Xayarath on a breakaway attack that ricocheted into the net squeezed the Royals momentarily.
A hip injury to junior Sydney May with 8 minutes remaining in the first half that sidelined her the rest of the game stunned them briefly.
But the Royals continued to find a way to respond.
“We’ve been talking about them all week, and one of them got loose. What a great job she did to get their goal. I think she got a lucky bounce off the post, and sometimes, in the tournament, you need a lucky bounce,” Davidson said. “But I knew we had momentum even while we trailed.”
Patton supplied the first retort in the second half, tying up the game, 1-1, on a putback goal – her 11th of the season – that Homestead goalkeeper Emma Kanalas missed after tipping away Ball State commit Addison McClain’s initial shot on goal.
The Royals recorded 24 shots overall and 11 on goal leading to nine saves for Kanalas.
Patton helped fill in for the loss of Sydney May, along with Margaux Henning, while Indiana recruit Riley Boyd, a senior, ferociously attacked.
“Patton and Margaux have both been huge for us all year in scoring goals coming off the bench and look what (Kherington) does,” Davidson said.
May had the last touch.
“I just wanted to finish it. However, it ended up, just somebody getting the ball in the back of the net somehow, someway,” May said. “Then celebrating with the girls and knowing that we get to continue to work for our goal. State.”
Boyd rushed over and hugged May after her goal zipped past Kanalas. Once the Royals received their regional trophy, Sydney May hopped over to her older sister and smiled.
“I would have rather had done it a little quicker than the last 11 seconds, but we’ll take it,” Davidson joked. “I cherish this for our program. For this team, they earned it. They deserve it. The alumni support has been amazing. They want it for this program because of the woulda, coulda, shoulda. I’m happy for our program and for our school.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source readthereporter.com ’
