It was senior night at Hallmark Orthodontics Soccer Complex. Your Millers were looking to get our 7 seniors (Ashton Craig, Sam Holland, Alex Pursch, Max Reason, Cole Thompson, Max Tucker, and Dugan Webster) a victory over highly ranked Center Grove. Dugan Webster, normally a goalie, got the start as striker so all 7 senior could be in the starting lineup. And he played like a season veteran. He made great runs and had good vision to find his fellow senior wingers in Sam Holland and Ashton Craig. For the first 35 minutes of the game, your Millers were the better team but had nothing to show for it. At the 35 minute mark, after some substitutions brought on some younger players, Freshmen Ben Hewitt and Junior Caden Rice had some nice combination play down the right flank that ended with Caden Rice being brought down in the box. Holland stepped up on senior night and calmly converted the spot-kick to take the lead 1-0 going in to halftime.
After the break, your Millers kept up the pressure. Holland bagged his brace 6 minutes into the half on a nice flick by Craig. 5 minutes later, Hewitt got on the scoresheet with a nicely laced shot from outside the penalty area to make the score 3-0. Center Grove was able to pull one back on a penalty kick of their own. Your Millers were undeterred and only 2 minutes after conceding a goal, they earned a dangerous free kick on the left flank. Senior Max Reason took a beautifully struck free kick bent around the 2 person wall. The Center Grove keeper made the save but coughed up the rebound. Senior Alex Pursch pounced on it and made the score 4-1. Before being subbed off, Senior GK Cole Thompson made a penalty kick save to keep the score at 4-1. With 20 minutes to go, Webster subbed on in goal. Unfortunately, Center Grove took a great strike to cut the lead to 4-2 but there was nothing that Webster could do on the shot. It was simply too good.
With 5 minutes to go in the game, Holland earned his 2 hat trick in as many games after sophomore Carsten Shidler had a nice long throw-in from the right flank that found Holland in the box. The game ended 5-2 with your Millers earning it’s 6th consecutive senior night victory.
Your Millers finish up the regular season with a bout against conference foe Franklin Central on Tuesday, September 26th. With a win or a draw, your Millers can be HCC Champions. Lets go Millers!