BY KEN PETERSON

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Chesterton girls soccer team proved that it is the best team in Indiana.

If Carmel wasn't in the state tournament.

The Greyhounds proved why they're the best team in Indiana, peppering Trojan goalie Danielle Guerra throughout the match in a 5-0 win in the seventh annual IHSAA state championship game.

The win closes Carmel's season at 22-2-1 while coach Kip Walton's Chesterton team ends an outstanding season at 22-2.

``This is by far the best team I've ever seen as far as coaching at the high school,'' Walton said. ``Their speed is a little overwhelming. We were very tired. That first game that we had, they were a little bit fresher than we were. But I've got to hand it to them. Their speed and their skill level that they had was outstanding.''

From the opening kickoff, it was apparent that Carmel was simply the better team. The top-ranked Greyhounds did to the Trojans what they've done to most opponents all season, play the ball in the opponent's side of the field and keep the pressure on throughout the match.

Carmel outshot Chesterton 41-1 and had 24 shots on goal to one for the Trojans.

The Greyhounds wasted little time in putting in their first goal as Kelly Renie scored off a Lesley Wells assist at the 7:41 mark. At the 21:25 mark, Wells scored off a Teresa Ayres assists to make it 2-0.

Alison Brown closed out the first half scoring when she found the back of the net at the 32:50 mark off an assist from Keeley Dowling to make it 3-0 at halftime.

``The wing play, they're quick out there and we knew that,'' Walton said. ``The thing that killed us was the backside. They snuck people in on the weakside. At least three of the five goals were scored that way.''

Brown added the fourth goal at the 42:17 mark off a Dowling assist and Emily Heinholt scored the final goal off assists from Renie and Kelly Hinkle at the 63:49 mark.

The Greyhounds graduate 14 seniors off this talented squad.

``I'm guessing that nine of them will play big time,'' Carmel coach Frank Dixon said. ``The other ones can, but some of them aren't going to. Emily Hunter is going to Duke University for pre-med and she figures she's not going to have time. But it is a coach's dream to have that many good kids.''

Walton loses leading scorer Leslie Nelson, along with seniors Jessica Terstenyak, Mary Frisch and Stefania Heck.{ql} {em}But a talented group of underclassmen return next year looking to make another deep run in the postseason.

``They got here,'' he said. ``And to get here is a feat in itself. They should be extremely proud of themselves. I know they're down right now. But they've got to realize, they're the second best team in the state right now. They played hard the whole way and I don't see any other team besides Carmel beating us.''

Trojans advance to finals with shootout win over Memorial

BY KEN PETERSON

INDIANAPOLIS -- For 80 minutes Saturday morning, Evansvile Memorial and Chesterton waged a fierce battle on the Kuntz Stadium turf.

It went to two seven-minute overtime periods without a winner.

It went a penalty kick shooutout and still there was no winner.

Finally, after two rounds of ``sudden-victory'' shootout, Chesterton goalie Danielle Guerra stopped a shot by Memorial sophomore Kara Simpson to give the Trojans the win.

The match will officially go down as a 1-1 tie that Chesterton (22-1) won 5-4 on penalty kicks.

``I was nervous,'' Guerra said. ``If they have a good shot, then it's a good shot. This week, we've been (practicing penalty kicks) every night. We figured since we got here that all the teams were as good as us and it could come down to a draw and it pulled off.''

It was Guerra who made a big save in the sudden-victory round after Marianne Shumaker's shot bounced off the post.

The Trojans' season rested on the shoulders of Guerra. But the junior came through when she blocked the shot by the Tigers Franny Enzler, forcing a second sudden-victory round.

``I'm trying to take my time out there because the forward might get nervous,'' she said. ``I can't show that I'm nervous. It'll make the forward less confident. That's the real battle in PK's, it's confidence.''

Chesterton outshot Memorial (16-6-1) 22-8 and had 16 shots on goal to the Tigers seven.

``We had the majority of the shots and we had the majority of the play,'' coach Kip Walton said. ``We were able to play with them fairly well and I was hoping we could win it on the field.''

Memorial won the first half by keeping the Trojan offense at bay. Going with a strong wind, Chesterton wasn't able to take advantage as the Tigers guarded Leslie Nelson well and kept her from finding the back of the net.

``Without knowing anything about Chesterton except for word of mouth, it was something we talked about early,'' Memorial coach Angie Lensing said. ``We talked about watching (Harsy) and (Nelson). We played marking man to them tight and their goal was to stay with them the whole time.''

The Tigers did break through with the wind at the 48:31 mark when Katie Keown scored off a Lauren Chavez assist to make it 1-0.

And with Memorial's focus on Nelson, it let the other member of Chesterton's dynamic duo to do her thing.

Nelson had the ball and hit Amanda Harsy in stride at midfield. Harsy took it down the field the final 50 yards and went one-on-one with goalie Christina Machucha. Machucha went to her knees, but Harsy found the back of the net at the 54:14 mark to tie the game.

``She's running down there and I'm telling her, `Amanda, it's all you. Just walk it in.' She made the hesitation move and the keeper made the move and she slotted it past her. It was perfect. She looked like a pro. And if she ever gets her confidence, the world better watch out because when she builds up her confidence, she's going to be unstoppable.''

In the penalty kick phase, goals were scored by Harsy, Nicole Halls, Neslon and Sarah Desormeaux.

The Tiger goals were scored by Megan Miles, Keown, Kate Schneider and Chavez.

The drama of the sudden-victory shootout was in the air as Guerra and Simpson eyed each other. But Lensing knew her team was in trouble when Simpson hesitated before the shot, giving Guerra a chance.

``Right when she did, I said, `Oh, no.','' Lensing said. ``PK's is a mental factor and they beat us when it came to that. I think going down to PK's is a good sign of how the game was. We had our chances to where it looked like we were the better team and yet they had the same thing. It was a very competitive game.''