Robinson, Sweet centerbacks of attention for Bloomington South girls soccer

Bloomington South girls' soccer coach David Prall laughs when he thinks about the different personalities he's put together on his back line.

For the previous two seasons, he could count on Grace McKay and Emma Shaw to lock things down and function as one unit. But they graduated and so began the discussion of which Panthers he would assign one of the most important positions on the team.

"We always do end of year meetings and so who is going to be the big centerback?" Prall said. "The was the big question everybody was asking because (McKay and Shaw) were there for two years and they were really solid and knew each other inside and out.

"So it was always clean."

Their 2021 South squad made it to semistate, just like the 2023 team has as it preps to take on No. 6 Indianapolis Cathedral on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Columbus's BCSC Soccer Complex. And the Panthers are there in part to a defense that's given up just two, too-late goals in the postseason.

Junior Izzy Sweet was an easier choice. Prall also saw senior Keira Robinson as perfect for the job, but it could come at the expense to the offense.

"In my mind Izzy has a centerback body and build and makeup," Prall said. "She just looks like a centerback and I think she’s going to be a really high end center back. But, talking to Keira, I didn’t want to move her from right back because she scored five, six goals from right back, that’s hard to replace when you have a right back scoring goals.

“It's not something I really wanted to do. I was thinking about moving Zoe (Kunzman) in. In trying to talk and feel them out. I think (Robinson) wanted it. So that’s part of it. Do they want the challenge of doing it? Because the centerbacks are the core of your team."

Smooth operators

Prall kept them on the field together all year, even in games where the outcome was long since decided. They had to build their chemistry. They had to be locked in and at their best for the postseason, when 1-0 games are the norm.

"They've been solid and they've just gotten better and better," Prall said. "At the beginning of the year, Izzy wasn't quite sliding in as much so getting that understanding of where each other are.

"It's growing. They've basically played every minute all season. I haven't taken them out a lot. Your centerbacks don't come out anyway but even in games we've had in hand, I still needed them to build that relationship. They really understand each other now."

Which means they move in synchronicity, wordlessly.

"Some of it is just getting to know where the other one is going to be without saying it," Prall said. "If you have to talk about it, it's too late sometimes."

'Feel the danger'

Centerback is not for the feint of heart.

Goals are given up and stopped in mere seconds so quick decision-making is key. Is there time to settle and find a foot? Or is booting the ball as far away as possible the best answer?

For Prall, whose style is strongly influenced from this playing days under Mike Freitag at Indiana, the farther the ball is away from your own goal, the better. And given the speed and skill South's wings, midfielders and forwards possess, getting the ball headed the other direction quickly is usually the right call.

"You've got to feel the danger," Prall said. "There could be some criticism we don't keep the ball enough in the back at time. I think that's somewhat true. When I played at IU, we didn't keep the ball in the back a whole lot and we did really well.

"I think we keep the ball pretty well at the midfield, our outside backs get high and we keep the ball there, but we're either dominating, so why keep the ball in the back? Your first job is not to let them score. And if the ball is in their half or out of bounds, then they can't score."

Each of them add to the talent mix. Robinson's height is handy and her big leg is great to have on goal kicks and free kicks.

"I've had ups and downs with all the kids except Keira," Prall said. "She's just a perfect kid. Never been in an argument. Easiest kid ever to coach."

Sweet, well, she proved recently in the win over Center Grove she's not bad as backup goalkeeper in keeping balls out of the net. A yellow card on South's keeper for stalling forced the quick move.

"Izzy's already there and she's in the game," Prall said. "That's why we went with that decision, rather than have someone who isn't up to the speed of the game."

It might be one of the few times they didn't disagree.

"Izzy, I argue with her more," Prall said. "They're very different, but they work well together."

Any luck with the Irish?

Cathedral (15-4-2), one of 14 private school squads in the final 24, booked its trip to the BCSC Soccer Complex in Columbus with a huge upset of No. 1 Carmel, 2-1 for its third regional title in six years (2020, 2018), but those other came at the 2A level. The Irish won the state title in '18 and were second in '20.

That goal Carmel scored against them was the first surrendered in eight games (since an 8-1 win over New Palestine on Sept. 16. The win reversed a 1-0 loss to the Greyhounds on Aug. 26. The other losses came to semifinalists Noblesville (3A) and Brebeuf Jesuit (2A) and an undefeated team (18-0) from northern Ohio. The ties were to Westfield and Brownsburg. The Irish have four players with seven or more goals.

South counters with four players who started in the 2021 semistate and felt like they should have been back last year: Kat Lacy at forward, Robinson (who was at right back then), Annalise Coyne at centerback and Zoe Kunzman at left back.

"That's going to be huge," Prall said of their experience. It'll be important to play the first 20 minutes like they did against Castle to make their presence known.

"They've got to believe it," Prall said. "I don't know about the next game, but I'm not worried about the next game. But they believe they can win this game. It's going to be there for us."

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on X (Twitter) @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Robinson, Sweet centerbacks of attention for Bloomington South girls soccer