Is this year's girls soccer title repeat for Park Tudor more satisfying? 'Absolutely.'
Deciding between state championship teams can be like deciding which of your children is your favorite.
Yet, for Park Tudor coach John Simmonds there isn’t a doubt in his mind his team’s 1-0 over Fort Wayne Canterbury Friday night in the Class A girls title match is his most special.
The fourth-ranked Panthers made it back to Carroll Stadium this season off a 21-1 title run from a year ago and had to withstand a furious charge by Canterbury in the final minutes to claim the school’s third title — as Simmonds also guided the team to the 2019 championship.
“This is absolutely more satisfying,” Simmonds said as his team awaited the awarding of their medals and trophy. “We lost a goalkeeper (Lucy Ferqueron) who had 54 shutouts to graduation and our All-State center back (Dominae Butler) tore her ACL before the season. There’s something to be said about how this team grew together.”
Class 2A: Guerin seniors finished runner-up as freshmen. They graduate as champs.
Dominae Butler’s sister, fellow-senior Dejanae, provided the only goal of the contest in the 26th minute. After she took a pass from teammate Mia Rettig on the right side of the Canterbury goal, Butler used her lightning-quick speed to sprint toward the center and let go a left-footed shot from just inside the penalty box that beat the Canterbury keeper to the lower right corner.
“I got a touch on my left foot and placed it well,” said Butler, who recently chose an offer from Indiana University-East’s program. “I had confidence I could beat (the defender) and got it in.”
After the goal, Simmonds was content to have his team play more of a defensive formation.
“We’re not very deep and the fact it was warmer than normal tonight was a problem for us,” Simmonds said. “We decided to keep more numbers behind the ball and see if we could get Dejanae on a break.”
It worked, but not without a few tense moments.
Park Tudor (16-4-1) beat Canterbury, 3-0 in last year’s final, then took a 3-1 win Sept. 2 over the Cavaliers, so Canterbury coach Chelsea Dourson changed things up.
“We’ve grown so much as a team and our ability to possess the ball has improved so much,” Dourson said. “We wanted to push our attack more urgently and it finally started to work better in the second half. We came alive when the pressure was on.”
Canterbury (12-9) had its first golden scoring opportunity in the 65th minute as Park Tudor keeper Katie Pavlack made a leaping save on Madelyn Herr’s free kick. Just two minutes later, the Cavaliers had an even better opportunity as Pavlack barely deflected a Ruby Greider shot just wide of the left goalpost.
From there, the Panthers were able to hold on, finishing with a 13-5 shots advantage.
Park Tudor finishes the season on an eight-game winning streak and won 12 of its final 13 games. The victory is also the 12th-straight in tournament play.
“We really didn’t feel this would be our year,” Simmonds admitted. “But, we had a lot of players who only played recreationally come through for us. This senior class did a great job handling their teammates.”
Added Butler: “I feel like this one was more special. We put it all together and showed we could do it again.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school girls soccer: Park Tudor wins Class A championship
