Harrison girls soccer sends message with win over McCutcheon
WEST LAFAYETTE - When Harrison opened the season with a 3-0 loss to Class 3A No. 18 Terre Haute North, the Raiders didn't fret.
Same when 3A No. 12 Bloomington South beat Harrison 2-0 last Saturday.
These are exactly the kinds of matches Raider girls soccer coach Amy Maxwell wants on the schedule.
"A lot of the losses, we’ve been working at practice and been good at learning from our mistakes," senior captain Brinley Niccum said. "We’re really good at coming back harder the next day."
Harrison plays that type of schedule to have moments like Wednesday night, where, in front of a large crowd anticipating a tightly-contested rivalry battle, the Raiders struck less than four minutes in and rode that wave of momentum to a 2-1 victory over a surging McCutcheon squad.
"People have been sleeping on us a bit. We haven’t been playing bad," Maxwell said. "Our record (4-2) is fine. We just have been playing better teams.
"Moving forward, we have four more ranked teams we are going to play (3A No. 1 Noblesville, Class A No. 20 Central Catholic, 3A No. 13 Fishers and 2A No. 17 West Lafayette). We do it so we can win games like this. We will take those 2-0 losses so we can learn and be better. That is what happened last Saturday when we played Bloomington South. That team was hard and it prepared us for today. We walked into this knowing how to play a hard game."
The two-time defending sectional champions delivered a message that, despite plenty of roster turnover from last season, the Raiders don't plan of giving up their spot as the top team in the North Central Conference or in sectional play.
There's some new faces getting their first extensive varsity playing time.
But there's also experience.
Niccum and fellow seniors Cora Wood and Ava Westendor; juniors Whitney Duell and Anna Rowe along with sophomore Ruth Moser entered the season with plenty of varsity experience. Throw in some talented new faces and Harrison is still a soccer program to be reckoned with.
"The biggest thing our team has is drive and effort," Wood said. "We all want to work hard to be able to (win championships). Regardless of how much experience our players have, that will get us where we want to go."
On Wednesday night, Duell ignited the crowd early with a goal 3:46 into the match. Wood put the Raiders ahead 2-0 late in the first half.
Alyssa Gray's corner kick early in the second half found Sammy Wood for McCutcheon's lone score.
But, as the Raiders did against Class 2A No. 13 Western already this season, Harrison proved it could fend off a tough opponent.
"This is a pretty big win," Niccum said. "McCutcheon has always been our rival and hats off to them because they are a pretty good team. This win feels pretty good."
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Harrison girls soccer sends message with win over McCutcheon
