Cougars advance to regional final

The Greenfield-Central boys soccer team moved on to the regional championship match tonight, scoring two goals within six minutes of each other to break a tie and beat Roncalli 3-1 in the 2A IHSAA regional semifinal at Mt. Vernon.

Just 84 seconds after Roncalli tied the game, Trent Barnhart scored the game-winner on a counterattack, and Bobby Gabrielsen added an insurance goal with just under 25 minutes to play to give the Cougars the 3-1 edge.

The Cougars (14-3-2) will play Center Grove (17-1-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday in the regional championship game at the Mt. Vernon soccer field. Our broadcast on HancockCountySports.com will begin at 6:45 p.m.

(Listen to the archive and Saturday night's G-C vs. Center Grove championship game here!)

G-C goalkeeper Collin Kleckner made nine saves in the game -- including a couple from point-blank range -- to keep Roncalli at bay.

The Cougars carried the play early, and cashed in when Angel Rodriguez scored 10:09 into the contest on a feed from Trent Barnhart into the box. Rodriguez fired a shot into the far-post netting from the left side to make it 1-0.

Kleckner made a couple of tough saves -- including one on Roncalli leading scorer Josh Brockman from point-blank range -- to keep it 1-0 going into halftime. His best save came early in the second, when he parried a perfectly-placed shot by Diego Valdez-Valencia off the crossbar. However, the rebound came back to the Rebels and was played to Brockman in the goalmouth to tie it at 1-1 just 8:02 into the second half.

It took just 84 seconds for the Cougars to tie it, as Gabrielsen carried the ball from midfield to the top right corner of the box. He slipped it through a couple of Rebel defenders to Adam Koers, who in turn fed Barnhart six yards away in front of the net. He put it away for his sixth goal of the year and a 2-1 Cougar lead.

Just 5:59 later, Gabrielsen scored after a free kick. Caleb Dunn took it from the offensive side of the center circle and served the box, where Gabrielsen took the ball and scored to make it 3-1.

Roncalli kept coming at Kleckner, but the G-C defense led by Zach Shoufler, Jim Vetters, Jeremiah Spencer and Brent Poling held the Rebels at bay and kept them from getting many good looks. Roncalli outshot G-C 15-9, but Kleckner made nine saves.