By Eric Eaton
Hoosier Crossroads Conference Coordinator
In 2007 the Noblesville Millers captured the Hoosier Crossroads Conference title in girls soccer in a very tight battle with both Zionsville and Brownsburg.
In fact, Zionsville went undefeated in conference games and finished with a 6-0-3 conference mark. However, the Millers which finished at 8-1, won the title based on the conference’s points system, 24 to 21. That system, awards three points for a win and just one for a tie.
Brownsburg finished in third place in the conference standings last season with 20 points; but went further than any other conference school in the state tournament, making it all the way to the championship game of the North Central (Indianapolis) Semistate.
In 2008, look for Noblesville, Zionsville, and Brownsburg to once again vie for the conference title, as each return a significant number of starters.
Noblesville and Brownsburg each have eight starters back and Zionsville returns six.
However, Zionsville’s players will have to adjust to a new coaching staff this season. Mike Beckner stepped down as head coach of the Eagles in the offseason and was replaced by Ramon Aguillon. Ramon though, appears to have done a nice job of beginning to develop a positive connection with his players during the offseason. In fact, the building of team leadership skills has been particularly stressed. One of the things the team participated in this offseason to help build leadership skills was to conduct a free soccer camp for underprivileged Latino kids.
In other off-season coaching moves, Rich Miotke was named the new girls soccer coach at Lafayette Jefferson, replacing Laura Poland.
Here’s a capsule team preview of all 10 conference teams, as the new season gets set to begin on August 18. (teams are listed in order of their finish in the 2007 conference standings)
Noblesville
Coach: Mike Brady
2007 Record: 15-2-1, 8-1 HCC (1st place)
2007 State Tournament: lost to Carmel 2-1 in the championship of the Hamilton Southeastern Sectional
Key graduation losses: Ashley Auld
Returning Starters: 8
Key Players:
Allie Vandewater-SR midfielder (9 assists last season)
Chrissy Tchoula-SR midfielder (10 goals and 5 assists last season)
Jessie Craig-SR defender
Michelle Blok-JR forward
Ellen Duckwall-JR midfielder
Mackenzie Cain-SR defender
Jasmine Wodarz-JR midfielder
2008 Outlook: “As the girls learn to play together, we should be competitive in every match, and hopefully, we’ll be playing the kind of soccer come sectional time that I know we’re capable of playing.” – Noblesville coach Mike Brady
Schedule: Click here to view the Millers 2008 schedule
Zionsville
Coach: Ramon Aguillon
2007 Record: 12-2-5, 6-0-3 HCC (2nd place)
2007 State Tournament: lost to Noblesville 1-0 in the semifinals of the Hamilton Southeastern Sectional
Key graduation losses: Alex Jenkins, Olivia Selm, Jessica Fisher (goal keeper)
Returning Starters: 6
Top Players:
Hannah Maher-SR defender
Amy Souers-SR midfielder (5 assists last season)
Kasey McKenney-JR midfielder (8 goals and 10 assists last season)
Hadley Stuart-JR midfielder (7 goals and 3 assists last season)
Lindsey Hansen-SO forward (3 goals and 2 assists last season)
Kelly Miller-SO defender (2 goals 3 assists last season)
2008 Outlook: “The team has the chance to compete for a Conference Title. Our Sectional is the toughest in the state, but we believe we can get past Noblesville and Carmel on our way to Regional’s and eventually making it to Semistate.” – Zionsville coach Ramon Aguillon
Schedule: Click here to view the Eagles 2008 schedule
Brownsburg
Coach: Phil Slavens
2007 Record: 16-3-4, 6-1-2 HCC (3rd place)
2007 State Tournament: won the Avon Sectional, won the Brownsburg Regional, lost to eventual state champion Cathedral 4-0 in the championship of the North Central (Indianapolis) Semistate
Key graduation losses: Katy Toth
Returning Starters: 8
Top Players:
Casey Stouder (Second team All-State last season)
Mackenzie Calvert-JR goal keeper (16 shutouts last season)
Rio James-SO
Nicole Duncan-JR (15 goals and 6 assists last season)
Rhea Proctor-SR
Carly Bennett-SR
2008 Outlook: “We should be competitive in an extremely tough conference. Any team in our conference can beat anybody on a given night. Hopefully, we can at least compete with the tougher teams.” – Brownsburg coach Phil Slavens
Schedule: Click here to view the Bulldogs 2008 schedule
Avon
Coach: Brian Holmer
2007 Record: 12-4-3, 5-2-2 HCC (4th place)
2007 State Tournament: lost to Brownsburg 2-1 in the semifinals of the Avon Sectional
Key graduation losses: Kaitlyn Blacha, Nikki Schmidt, Nicole Svorinic, and Christina Copeland (goal keeper)
Returning Starters: 8
Top Players:
Jessica Warren-SR midfielder (11 goals and 8 assists last season)
Michelle Sauer-SR midfielder (injured last season)
Austen Stoelting-SR defender
Taylor Heidorn-SO midfielder (7 goals and 5 assists last season)
Stephanie Wilson-SR midfielder (9 goals and 10 assists last season)
Nicky Wheeler-SO forward (injured last season)
2008 Outlook: “The coaching staff expects this team to becompetitive this season. The past couple of seasons we’ve been plagued by injuries, so health will be a major key to our success. We return eight starters from last year’s team and welcome back three players whoonly played a combined three games last season due to injuries. Our conference and non-conference schedules should prepare us well for the state tournament.” – Avon coach Brian Holmer
Schedule: Click here to view the Orioles 2008 schedule
Westfield
Coach: Nick Magdalinos
2007 Record: 13-6-3, 4-4-1 HCC (5th place)
2007 State Tournament: won the Hamilton Heights Sectional, lost to Ft. Wayne Dwenger 3-0 in the semifinals of the Ft. Wayne Snider Semistate
Key graduation losses: Brittany Slingsby (goal keeper)
Returning Starters: 9
Top Players:
Sarah Colby-JR forward (17 goals and 4 assists last season)
Allison Gray-SO forward (8 goals and 4 assists last season)
Morgan Hunt-JR midfielder (7 goals and 4 assists last season)
Ashley Robertson-SR (6 goals last season)
Kristin Cooley-SR defender (First team All-state last season with 4 goals and 3 assists last season)
Schedule: Click here to view the Shamrocks 2008 schedule
Fishers
Coach: Ben Beasley
2007 Record: 5-8-5, 3-3-3 HCC (6th place)
2007 State Tournament: lost to Carmel 3-0 in the semifinals of the Hamilton Southeastern Sectional
Key graduation losses: Stephanie Burtch (goal keeper)
Returning Starters: 9
Top Players:
Heather Sterling-SR midfielder (2 goals and 3 assists last season)
Karli Harris-SR midfielder (2 goals last season)
Megan King-SR defender
Sarah Hassan-SR midfielder
Megan Welk –SR forward
Charlee Barlow-SR defender
Shelby Wright-JR forward
2008 Outlook: “The team should be more competitive and consistent this season with 12 seniors and 16 returning letter winners. The team will be led by Heather Sterling on the attack and Megan King on the defense.” – Fishers coach Ben Beasley
Schedule: Click here to view the Tigers 2008 schedule
Lafayette Jefferson
Coach: Rich Miotke
2007 Record: 7-9-2, 2-6-1 HCC (T7th place)
2007 State Tournament: lost to Harrison (West Lafayette) 2-0 in the semifinals of the Harrison Sectional
Key graduation losses: Erin Nolan (goal keeper)
Returning Starters: 6
Top Players:
Shelby Blignaut-SR defender
Adrie Heistand-JR midfielder (5 goals last season)
Brisa Reyes-JR midfielder
Maya Reyes-FR midfielder
Paige Homeier-SO midfielder
2008 Outlook: “We have a very young team, but there have been more girls playing club soccer all year. We are building upon our team every year, and feel we should be more competitive this year. I believe we have what it takes to finish in the top half of a very difficult conference this year, and make a significant push to challenge for a sectional title this year.” – Lafayette Jefferson coach Rich Miotke
Schedule: Click here to view the Bronchos 2008 schedule
Harrison
Coach: Arin Yarc
2007 Record: 8-9-2, 2-6-1 HCC (T7th)
2007 State Tournament: lost to West Lafayette 2-1 in the championship game of the Harrison Sectional
Key graduation losses: Lindsay Jordan, Daniela Giuliani, Jennifer Riggle, Kristen Martin, and Lexi Steinweg-Woods (goal keeper)
Returning Starters: Not known
Top Players:
Kaitlyn Lewis-SR (8 goals last season)
Ashley Courtney-SR (8 goals and 3 assists last season)
Schedule: Click here to view the Raiders 2008 schedule
Hamilton Southeastern
Coach: Greg Davidson
2007 Record: 7-9-1, 1-7-1 HCC (9th place)
2007 State Tournament: lost to Noblesville 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the Hamilton Southeastern Sectional
Key graduation losses: Ashley Huckaby
Returning Starters: 5
Top Players:
Courtney Moriarty-SR (Morehead St. recruit, 11 goals and 9 assists last season)
Olivia Holden-SR (West Point (Army) recruit, 3 goals and 8 assists last season)
Lindsay Stinson-SO (9 goals, 3 assists last season)
Rebecca Romaine-SO (5 goals, 5 assists last season)
Kara Dather-SR defender
2008 Outlook: “Last year was the first losing season HSE has ever had in girls soccer. We intend on it being the last. This was the second year of our splitting the high school, (Fishers is the result of the split) and so last year was our growing pains of that split. We had some young girls getting experience, but our upper classmen were not at the level we were accustomed to. This year we have a great crop of freshman that will increase our level of play immediately.” – Hamilton Southeastern coach Greg Davidson
Schedule: Click here to view the Royals 2008 schedule
McCutcheon
Coach: Aaron Blessing
2007 Record: 5-8-2, 0-7-2 HCC (10th place)
Key graduation losses: Abbie McClure, Brooke Starr, Kaylee Smith, and Kendra Foster (goal keeper)
Returning Starters: 4
Top Players:
Kelly Grott-SR midfielder (tore her ACL last season)
Leah Little-JR midfielder (6 goals last season)
Shelby Brown-SR midfielder
Jessica Valley-SO forward
2008 Outlook: “We are a growing program in terms of interest and overall numbers. We’ve got a great attitude. We look like we will play smarter and play the way I want them to play this season. We are going to have a group of 11 girls that are going to work their tails off every minute. We will be very competitive in every game.” – McCutcheon coach Aaron Blessing
Schedule: Click here to view the Mavericks 2008 schedule
2008 Conference Overview
“The HCC is one of the toughest conferences in the state if not the toughest. I wouldn’t be surprised if the HCC had anywhere from 5-7 teams ranked in the top 20 to start the season. Some of the top teams in the HCC should be Noblesville, Zionsville, Brownsburg and Westfield with Fishers, HSE and Avon not far behind. Harrison, McCutcheon and Lafayette Jeff are competitive each year and I wouldn’t be surprised to see those teams make some noise this year.” – Avon coach Brian Holmer
“Top to bottom the HCC is one of the top 2 or 3 conferences in the state for girls soccer. After the top 3 or 4 teams, everyone else is fairly even. I truly feel every game is important, as any team in our conference could beat another team on a given night. That is why it is so important to coach smart soccer with emphasis on team defense, smart attacking, and most importantly, limiting your mistakes as a team.” – Lafayette Jefferson coach Rich Miotke
“The HCC is one of the top conferences in the state, teams like Noblesville, Westfield, and Avon will be very tough to beat. We expect this season to be a very competitive one in our conference. Any team can beat anyone on any given day.” – Zionsville coach Ramon Aguillon
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