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Lady Vikes use shootout win to move on in soccer sectional

Huntington North's Hannah Tillett is marked closely by Homestead defender Olivia Cronenwett during action at the Fort Wayne South Side Soccer Sectional semifinal on Thursday, Oct. 5. The game went to a shootout before Huntington North came out on top, 3-2.
Huntington North's Hannah Tillett is marked closely by Homestead defender Olivia Cronenwett during action at the Fort Wayne South Side Soccer Sectional semifinal on Thursday, Oct. 5. The game went to a shootout before Huntington North came out on top, 3-2. Photos by Steve Clark.

The Huntington North High School girls’ soccer team edged Homestead, 3-2, in a shootout in the semifinals of the South Side Sectional on Thursday, Oct. 5.

The teams played to a 2-2 deadlock after regulation and two overtimes. The shootout saw the Lady Vikings fall behind, 3-2, through the first three rotations, with scores by senior Hannah Tillett and senior Karmen Koch bracketing a misfire by sophomore Autumn Anderson. Huntington North’s fortunes turned in the fourth rotation, as sophomore goalkeeper Kodi Douglass stopped Homestead’s ball while sophomore Dairian Goelz planted hers to knot things up at 3-3. After another clutch save by Douglass, junior Amaya Sunderman stepped up to the line and fired the ball past Homestead keeper Nicole Gerber to give Coach Jeremy Steele’s squad the win.

With the victory, Huntington North, 16-1, advances to the sectional championship game on Saturday, Oct. 7, against Warsaw, 12-4-3. The Lady Tigers punched their ticket to the title tilt with a 6-0 rout of Wayne.

After a scoreless opening half, the first 90 seconds of the following stanza saw Homestead and Huntington North both get on the board. The Lady Spartans struck first, getting a goal from Jessica Tanzler, but Koch made sure the lead was short-lived, tallying her 31st goal of the season to deadlock the contest at 1-1. Tillett notched her 40th assist of the year on the score.

A little over eight minutes later, it was Tillett’s turn to find the back of the net, scoring her 43rd goal of the campaign to give the Lady Vikings a 2-1 advantage.

Just when it appeared Huntington North’s lead might stand up, Tanzler scored again for Homestead with just over four minutes remaining to tie the game up and send it hurtling toward its conclusion at the penalty kick line, following two scoreless overtime periods.

Douglass went the distance in goal for the Lady Vikes, racking up 12 saves while conceding the two Lady Spartan scores to notch the win.

Douglass’ Homestead counterpart, Gerber, also went the distance, yielding the pair of Huntington North scores while making a dozen stops in the losing effort.

The Lady Spartans finish the season 6-8-4.