CLARKSVILLE — Two of the top girls’ soccer squads in Southern Indiana slugged it out last night, as archrivals 1A No. 4 Providence and New Albany battled for 80 minutes to a 1-1 tie at Pioneer Field.

“We were probably favored coming in, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” said Providence coach Dave Smith said of his 6-4-3 squad. “It was a game of momentum and a rivalry game, and you can’t always pay attention to that kind of thing when those things are involved.”

Smith’s troops, the defending Class A state champions, honored nine seniors last night at Providence’s soccer field during halftime. With all that experience and the emotion on their side, they seemed poised to take control of the match during the first period.

The Pioneers’ attackers sent a barrage of kicks towards New Albany goalkeeper Kaelin Blessinger early, and finally found paydirt as forward Sarah Posante’s kick off a feed from Jordan Reger went past Blessenger at 15:38 to give Providence a 1-0 lead.

Blessenger deflected several shots throughout the rest of the period, and New Albany finally was able to bring the match down towards Providence’s net during the final three minutes of the first frame, but were unable to attempt any shots at the Pioneer goal.

Early second period shot attempts in close by Posante and Alyssa Jones missed left, and finally New Albany found the scoring column when Tanner Marcum’s shot off a cross from Selena Iglesias knottted the match at 1 at 54:26.

Both Blessinger and Providence goalkeeper Autumn Meyer made acrobatic saves throughout the rest of the match to secure the tie. Most notably, Meyer squashed a Rachel Geveden breakaway at 59:02, and Bessinger stopped successive shots in close by Jones and Reger at around 66-minute mark.

New Albany coach Julie Deuser said she was pleased with her squad’s play in challenging the defending state champions.

“She has been incredible. She has really come up big this year for us and has been great,” Deuser said of Blessinger. “I think right now we’re playing the best we have all year, especially to come in here and take it to a very good Providence team. I think we did very well.”

Smith was a little more circumspect about his squad’s play. One of his key defenders, Sara Craig, suffered a knee injury during the match, and he said he felt the Pioneers should have won the match.

But there’s still plenty more season left, he said, and he knows his veteran squad will be ready for the postseason.

“The effort was there, maybe the execution wasn’t,” Smith said. “I felt like we got in a hurry, and maybe took too many shots from too far out. Not that that’s a bad thing if you have a good look, but I think we were a little impatient.”

Providence faces off against Jeffersonville Thursday night. New Albany travels to Switzerland County the same night.  



BOX SCORE

NEW ALBANY 1, PROVIDENCE 1

New Albany    0 1—1

Providence    1 0 —1

First Half

    P — Sarah Posante (Jordan Reger), 15:38.

Second Half

    N — Tanner Marcum (Selena Iglesias), 54:26.

Statistics

    Shots on Goal: New Albany 8, Providence 8.

    Saves: New Albany — Kaelin Blessinger 7; Providence — Autumn Meyer 5.

    Records: New Albany 8-4-2, Providence 6-4-3.